American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius is a major initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, chaired by poet Dana Gioia. The project is designed to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy. The exhibit, "American Masters of the Mississippi Gulf Coast," is part of that initiative. It is a special collaboration of the NEA, the Mississippi Arts Commission, and numerous art institutions within the state, some as lenders to the exhibition, some as venues for the exhibition. This book, which accompanies the exhibit, presents four artists from the Mississippi Gulf Coast whose work has garnered national attention and acclaim.<BR>The work of 19th century Biloxi art potter, George Ohr, has been called a forerunner of modern sculpture. Twentieth century Biloxi artist, Dusti Bonge, was the first modernist painter in Mississippi, and exhibited with the major figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement in America. Richmond Barthe of Bay St. Louis attained the summit of acclaim during the Harlem Renaissance with his classical and sensuous sculpture of the human form. Walter Anderson of Ocean Springs drew specifically on the flora and fauna of the Gulf Coast for his art.<BR>The culture of the Coast with its unrestrained spirit and vitality may be the only area in the state in which the four artists honored in this exhibition could have thrived. Each was highly individualistic, some called eccentric. Each was touched by the environment in specific and useful ways. Each seemed to move inexorably and freely toward his/her art under the wide skies of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and its tradition of uninhibited striving. Except for George Ohr, who worked in the 19th century, the other three artists were contemporaries in time and all four shared the history, culture, and natural world of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Its background of many ethnic groups, its proximity to New Orleans, the activities of the waterfront, its spirit as a playground all became influences on their lives and art. This book presents biographies of Ohr, Bonge, Anderson, and Barthe with family photographs and color illustrations of their work.