John Taylor And Howling Wolf's Visual Representation Of The Medicine Creek Treaty Summary

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At first glance, John Taylor and Howling Wolf’s visual representations of the treaty signing at Medicine Creek Lodge appear very different from one another. It is more than apparent that the two artists have very different interpretations of the same event. This paper will visually analyze both works of art by comparing and contrasting the compositional balance, medium, and use of color, as well as how the artists narrated their views using different visual elements. John Taylor’s picture of the signing is very realistic, especially when compared to Wolf’s picture, which is in a much more abstracted form. In Taylor’s picture the viewer can easily recognize natural objects shown in their true form. For example, the landscape in the background of the piece is easily recognizable as a forest. The layout is filled with tall trees and wavy grass. The …show more content…

In Taylor’s picture it is hard to tell the difference between male and females, and between the Native Americans and Pilgrims. Except for a few of the people on the outside who are shown with incredible detail, most of the people fade together and blur as a crowd. With most of the figures it is hard to differentiate between their faces. Taylor does this to make the narrative of the piece to focus on the treaty rather than focusing on the individual people who were involved in signing of the treaty. In Wolf’s picture it is easily to distinguish the different tribes and genders of the people. In fact, the majority of the people in the picture are women. This shows that in Native American culture values women in their society. He also separates the different tribes by using different colors of clothing. This allows the viewer to understand which tribe was directly involved in the treaty and which ones were simply watching. Wolf makes it clear that the actual people involved in the treaty should be the main focus of the

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