But, but Hogarth was a mere illustrator, even a < gasp > COMICS artist! No a "real" artist, dontchaknow. IMNSO opinion, the American artists of the 20th century that will be remembered and studied 200 years hence will not be named Schnabel Pollock or Koons. They'll be named Disney, Rockwell, Watterson, Flagg, Schultz, etc. Those who made the actual icons of the century while the "fine" artists were masturbating for their cronies.
Agreed that the early and mid century American illustrators have been great artists, have kept artistic skills alive while others have done what they could to destroy those skills. Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Dean Cornwell, Andrew Loomis were a few more of the greats in illustration. Frank Frazetta too, come to think of it.