Old World, New World

Old World, New World

The Encounter of Cultures onThe American Frontier

Augustin Dupré, The Diplomatic Medal (United States), 1790, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson during the Presidency of George Washington

“America,” anonymous engraving from The Four Continents, 1804

John Vanderlyn (1775-1852), The Death of Jane McCrea, 1804, oil on canvas, 82.5 x 67.3 cm, Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum

Emmanuel Leutze, Study for Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (Westward Ho!), 1861, oil on canvas, 33 x 43 in. Medallion portraits are of Daniel Boone (left) and William Clark (right). How is Clark dressed?

Charles Bird King, Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees, 1822, oil on canvas, 36x28 in

George Catlin, The Last Race, Part of Okipa Ceremony (Mandan), 1832, oil on canvas, 23x28in

George Catlin, ''The author painting a chief, at the base of the rocky mountains.'' Frontispiece to Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, 1841(right) George Catlin, Mandan Chief Four Bears, 1832

George Catlin, Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-To-Toh-Pa – Mandan, oil on board, 1857-69

(left) George Catlin, Clermont, First Chief of the Tribe (Osage), 1834, oil on canvas, 29 x 24in(right) Thomas Easterly (US, 1809-1882) Keokuk, or the Watchful Fox, 1847, Daguerreotype

Compare the viewer’s experience of these two works. Why?

Frederic S. Remington (US, 1861–1909), A Dash for the Timber, 1889, oil on canvas, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TexasArtists were THE propagandists of frontier mythologies. From Remington’s images followed Hollywood Westerns.

Compare a Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly illustration of a peace treaty signing with a representation of the same event (from memory) by Howling Wolf, a Cheyenne warrior imprisoned at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida.

1875: 72 Southern Plains chiefs and warriors were shackled and taken by wagon train, rail, and steamboat through St. Louis, Missouri, Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida before arriving in St. Augustine, the location of Fort Marion where they were imprisoned for three years.

Making Medicine, Cheyenne, Inspection of Indian Prisoners, Fort Marion, Fla., 1876-77, pencil and colored pencil, 8 1/2 x 11 inches. Collection National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

COHOE, Fort Marion Prisoners Dancing for Tourists, 1875-77, graphite and colored pencil on paper, private collection

More Fort Marion art: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/kiowa/ft_marion.htm

Wo-Haw, Reading Class at Fort Marion, 1875-7, pencil and crayon on paper, 8¼ x 11½ in

Wohow, Kiowa prisoner, Kiowa Portraits, 1877, pencil and crayon, 8¾ x 11¼ in. Collection Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.

Frances Benjamin Johnston, Class in American History, 1899-1900, platinum print, 7.5 x 9.5 in