Miller makes clear the impact of wilderness on early American life. While the Old World mentality presented wilderness as mysterious and filled with demons, the new American nation viewed it differently. Rather than possessing a sense of fear, their belief in the divine mission to spread democracy and civilization inspired them to journey west. Accordingly, they did so with a sense of excitement and a thirst for discovery. As such, I wholeheartedly agree with Miller’s view that the early romantic images of the American landscape were expressions of a new cultural nationalism. According to Miller, these early countrymen viewed the new nation as “...a place apart, an unpeopled wilderness where history, born in nature rather than in corrupt institutions, …show more content…
The canyon is a part of what is now the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, an area of land first acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. In this painting, the observer may notice many features which stand out. In the background, the image depicts a large, rocky ravine, occupied by a river and rows of trees. The river leads to a large orb of light, presumably stemming from a fire. In the foreground, two men are seen standing on a cliff above the ravine, presumably in awe at the wondrous land they have just discovered in the distance. Behind the men is an untraveled area of …show more content…
Native American Indians were often the focus of this insulting artwork, as demonstrated through another painting called “Death of Jane McCrea”. This 1809 work depicts a clear indictment of Native Indian culture. The painting is based on events which occurred in 1777, at the height of the American Revolution. In it, two native men have kidnapped a white woman, and are restraining her. One of the men seems to be holding a hammer, and is about to execute the woman. His face expresses intense anger. The woman, depicted with great beauty, has eyes filled with fear in her final moments. Additionally, the use of darkness in the background of the image adds to the overall negative
It seems that in the 21st century and even during the colonizing of America, the interpretation of Native Americans is and had been that they were savages and live a barbaric lifestyle. That they had no order or way of life. When presented with the topic of Native Americans and Colonists in the New World, it is easy to assume warfare and bloodshed amongst the two parties. That the Colonists were constantly in mini battles with the Native Americans. It is also easy to assume that the land in the New World was unsettling to the eyes. This is due to records from the colonist times, calling the lands “wild” or “wildlands”. In Robbie Ethridge’s book Creek Country, she tries to debunk these interpretations mentioned above. She does so by using an
Representational art work is resembling the natural world and abstract art shows objects in a basic style (Sayre, Pg. 26). While Taylor uses naturalism in his art work, Wolf uses symbols to show the Native American culture. Wolf’s art is two dimensional because it is flat. Wolf also uses many colors to represent the culture of Native Americans. The colors shown in the artist image is both primary and secondary colors, and is sketched on plain paper. Taylor’s image of the signing of the treaty shows the colors of black and white. Taylor used the highlight method which is going from lighter to darker color. The artist work is also three dimensional. Also, Wolf’s art work exhibited many women (Sayre, Pg. 41) and displays the attendance being majority Native Americas. In Taylor’s image there are no women presented (Sayre, Pg. 41), and indicates at the event there are more United States government there then Native
In Our savage neighbors written by Peter Silver, violence and terror characterized the relationship between the Indians and the Pennsylvanian colonists. The conspectus of Silver’s book resides on the notion that fear was the prime motivator that led to the rebirth
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
The West: From Lewis and Clark and Wounded Knee: The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America.
... middle of paper ... ... This conflict conveys the confrontation of wild American nature with the new-coming European civilization, people like the young hunter?had no qualms about doing harm to nature by thrusting civilization upon it? P. Miller, p. 207.
In Wallace Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter,” he is arguing that the countries wilderness and forests need to be saved. For a person to become whole, Stegner argues that the mere idea of the wild and the forests are to thank. The wilderness needs to be saved for the sake of the idea. He insinuates that anyone in America can just think of Old faithful, Mt. Rainier, or any other spectacular landform, even if they have not visited there, and brought to a calm. These thoughts he argues are what makes us as people whole.
One day Cole set out to observe nature and it’s wilderness. He began painting pictures by first making oil sketches of American rocks, trees, sunsets, plants, animals, as well as distant Indians. From these sketches he formed several paintings. Most famous for his allegorical collection called the “The Course of Empire” and is well-known for his Landscape paintings, “The Oxbow,” “The Woodchopper,” and “The Clove, Catskills.”
The Grand Canyon has a lot of different features and is an exciting place that holds a lot of secretes and mysteries that scientists have been trying to figure out since the Grand Canyon was formed. It is millions of years old, over 277 miles wide, 18 miles wide, and defies many normal Geography features that are true in every other situation. Many theories have been presented that seek to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon. The first theory is that the Grand Canyon has a lot of Erosional Scarp Face’s, that have come together over the years, which is one theory that has been presented. Scientists have also tried to see if the Colorado River cutting into the canyon caused the Grand Canyon.
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
The cowboys of the frontier have long captured the imagination of the American public. Americans, faced with the reality of an increasingly industrialized society, love the image of a man living out in the wilderness fending for himself against the dangers of the unknown. By the end of the 19th century there were few renegade Indians left in the country and the vast expanse of open land to the west of the Mississippi was rapidly filling with settlers.
The Romantic period was an entirely unique era in American history that produced new life philosophies through the focus of nature and exploration resulting in the evolution of the American Dream. Consequently, some of the world’s greatest advancements in arts and literature were accomplished during this time period. Authors such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Fennimore Cooper, and Oliver Wendell Holmes sparked the imagination of American audiences through newfound literature such as lyrical poetry, myths, legends, folklore, and the new American novel. Romantic age writers emphasized nature, especially in poetry, as an inspiration for imagination and emotion. The American Dream during the Romantic era was to lead a life of emotion and intuition over reasoning through exploration of the countryside and the recognition of natural beauty displayed by imaginative literature that reflected this American Dream.
Early on the American government dressed up the culture and opportunities that lay in the West to get more westward expansion. The tr...
While searching the South Dakota Art Museum for potential paintings to use for this assignment, I found various paintings that appeared to interest me. However, Harvey Dunn’s “After the Blizzard” really intrigued me and grabbed my attention. This partially because of the recent snow that fell around the area. But the main reason it sparked my interest is due to my experiences I have received from taking snowmobiling trips to Centennial, Wyoming. When my friends and I take this trip, I enjoy comparing the landscape from the bottom of the mountain, to high elevations. I would say this painting definitely reminds me of some of the cabins and houses that are at high elevations on the mountain.
When this painting was commissioned, The Indian Removal Act of 1830 had previously forced many Indians from their homelands (Keene, Cornell and O'Donnell 2013, 235) which had created feelings of dissension between Americans and Indians (Keene, Cornell and O'Donnell 2013, 236). During the late 1830’s and early 1840’s, America was once again growing westward and encountering Indian resistance (Keene, Cornell and O'Donnell 2013, 322).