Sayre2e ch32 integrated_lecture_pp_ts-150673

Copyright ©2012 Pearson Inc.

Albert Bierstadt. The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak. Detail. 1863.73-1/2" × 120-3/4”.


Map: Major Native American tribes of the Great Plains and Mountain West.


Map: Population density of non-native peoples in the United States in 1820 (a) and 1860 (b).


Emanuel Leutze. Study for Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (Westward Ho!). 1861.

33-1/4" × 43-3/8”.

The Native American in Myth and Reality

How did territorial expansion affect Native Americans in North America?

• The Indian Removal Act — At the request of President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed “An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.” Native peoples were forced to march across the country a trek that would become known as the Trail of Tears.

• Recording Native Americans: Catlin’s Ethnographic Enterprise — George Catlin’s contribution to Native-American ethnography, is indisputable. He recorded the costumes and practices of more than 40 different tribes in 470 portraits an portrayals of daily life.

• Huron Moccasins: The Influence of European Styles on Native-American Art — The impact of European contact on Native American arts can be seen in objects made by the tribal peoples, such as moccasins.

• Plains Narrative Painting: Picturing Personal History and Change — The Native Americans of the Great Plains developed a strong sense of history. They recorded their history as a narrative in images on buffalo-hide robes, the exterior hides of teepees, shields, and muslin cloths.

• Women’s Art on the Plains: Quillwork and Beadwork — The artwork of women was greatly respected in the Plains and Intermountain tribal cultures. The two main art forms practiced by women were quillwork and beadwork. Quillwork was considered a sacred art.

• Weaving and Basketry — Among the Navajo, weaving, basketry, and pottery are practiced today very much as they were in pre-colonial times. Weaving is a sacred activity that stretches back to creation itself.

• The End of an Era — The ultimate fate of Plains tribes was inextricably linked to the fate of the buffalo. A new circle dance, the Ghost Dance, seemed to promise salvation for the tribes but that ended at Wounded Knee Creek.

• Discussion Question: What is the significance of the mythic Western landscape?


John Vanderlyn. The Murder of Jane McCrea. 1803-04.32" × 26-1/2”.


George Catlin. The Last Race, Part of Okipa Ceremony (Mandan). 1832.23-3/8 × 28-1/8”.


Native American, Huron. Moccasins. ca. 1835.Length: 9”.


Native American, Sioux. Winter Count. ca. 1900.69-1/4" × 35-1/4”.


Native American, Eastern Sioux. Baby Carrier, from the Upper Missouri River area. 19th century.

Length: 31”.


Native American, Navajo. Germantown "eye-dazzler" blanket. 1875-90.63" × 40”.


Native American, Mescalero Apache. Coiled basket. Early 20th century.


Native American, Arapaho. Ghost Dance dress. 1890s.

Walt Whitman’s America

How were the contradictions of economic expansion expressed by American artists?

• In the Interest of Liberty: An Era of Contradictions — Whitman’s essential optimism and belief in the egalitarian promise of democracy was put to the test during Reconstruction. African Americans were losing their freedoms while a French gift to the American people, Liberty Enlightening the World, was dedicated. The Tammany Society was founded for social purposes but now used working-class and immigrant votes to gain and keep power indefinitely. Under the leadership of Boss Tweed, City Hall became known as Tammany Hall. Millions of American workers found themselves without jobs in the 1870s. Workers developed new forms of collective action such as strikes and walkouts.

• The American Woman — In the post-Civil War years, women became the public face of social reform as they led the suffrage movement, and the temperance movement. They assumed a growing role in education and nursing. Individual achievements by Emily Dickenson and Kate Chopin are notable. Dickenson’s work is characterized by passion, simplicity, and an economy and concentration of style. Chopin’s stories were praised for their attention to local custom and dialect. No other writer of the era tried to describe the feelings a women experiences as she discovers her own sexual being and her own identity.

• Discussion Question: Why was Kate Chopin’s Awakening a critical flop?


Map: New York City and its boroughs, ca. 1900.


Portrait of Walt Whitman. Frontispiece of his Leaves of Grass, first edition, 1855. 1855.


Childe Hassam. The Manhattan Club (The Stewart Mansion). ca. 1891.18-1/4" × 22-1/8”.


George Bellows. Cliff Dwellers. 1913.40-3/16" × 42-1/16”.


Robert Koehler. The Strike. 1886.71-5/8" × 108-5/8”.


Thomas Wilmer Dewing. A Reading. 1897.20-1/4" × 30-1/4”.


Winslow Homer. The Life Line. 1884.28-5/8" × 44-3/4”.


Thomas Eakins. Closer Look: The Gross Clinic. 1875.96" × 78-1/2”.


Thomas Eakins. Closer Look: The Agnew Clinic. 1889.84-3/8" × 118-1/8”.


Portrait of Emily Dickinson. ca. 1848-53.5-1/2" × 3-7/8”.

Ragtime and the Beginnings of Jazz

What is ragtime?

• Jazz is characterized by a steady rhythm that plays off against a rhythmic syncopation. To many puritanical Americans, the loose rhythms of ragtime suggested loose morals, and the form was harshly criticized.


Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag: Title page of an early edition. ca. 1899.

The American AbroadWhat is an expatriate?

• Henry James and the International Novel — James was perhaps the best-traveled and most cosmopolitan American writer in the nineteenth century. He often depicted the drama of American innocence confronting European experience in his novels, such as Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors.

• Painters Abroad: The Expatriate Vision — Whistler was an American expatriate painter who valued art for art’s sake, for its beauty, not for its content. Sargent specialized in portraits of the aristocracy and the wealthy, and he was noted for his stylish, bravura brushwork. Mary Cassatt was a figure painter, concentrating almost exclusively on women in domestic and intimate settings.

Active Listening Guide: Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag

MyArtsLabChapter 32 – The Course of Empire: Expansion and Conflict in America


James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket. ca. 1874.23-3/4" × 18-3/8”.


John Singer Sargent. The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. 1882.87-3/8" × 87-5/8”.


Mary Stevenson Cassatt. In the Loge. 1879.32" × 26”.


Mary Stevenson Cassatt. Modern Woman, central panel in the Hall of Honor, Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893

(destroyed). 1893.13' × 58’.

Chicago and the Columbian Exposition of 1893

What ideal of America was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition?

• Louis Sullivan and the Chicago School of Architecture — Chicago was attractive as a venue for the Columbian Exposition due to the sheer volume and impressiveness of its original, contemporary architecture. After the great fire of 1871, there was a great need to rebuild. A leading proponent of new methods of design was Sullivan, who coined the phrase, “Form ever follows function.”

• Frederick Law Olmstead and the Invention of Suburbia — Olmstead and Calvert Vaux designed New York’s Central Park and modeled it on the English garden. Olmstead later strove to create a communal spirit by subdividing sites into small “village” areas linked by drives and walks. This design for Riverside, Illinois set the standard for suburban development.

• Discussion Question: What does Sullivan mean by “form follows function”?


Mary Stevenson Cassatt. Gathering Fruit. ca. 1893.16-7/8" × 15-3/8”.


Charles Graham. Sophia Hayden’s Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. 1893.

17" × 27-1/2”.


Louis H. Sullivan. Bayard (Condict) Building, New York. 1897-98.


John Bachman. View of Central Park. ca. 1870.

Architectural Simulation: Central Park

MyArtsLabChapter 32 – The Course of Empire: Expansion and Conflict in America


Olmsted, Vaux, & Co. (landscape architects). General plan of Riverside, Illinois. 1869.


John Gast. Continuity & Change: American Progress. 1872.20-1/4" × 30-1/4”.

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Sayre2e ch32 integrated_lecture_pp_ts-150673