The American West and Native Americans

The Paintings of Albert Bierstadt

This blog discusses the symbols and meanings in the last, great landscape painting of Bierstadt's career.

Albert Bierstadt (1830 to 1902) was an American painter, born in Germany and brought to the USA when very young. Before considering the painting, it is of significance to reflect on the life of the painter himself. His life embodies familiar notions from the American Dream; the hard working, talented immigrant, sensing a cultural and economic opportunity in the East's cultural and spiritual  fascination with the frontier, developing his business interests through networking and socialising and using his entrepreneurial talents in publicising his work. He turned his studio into a museum where visitors could see his paintings amid a vast collection of animal skins and Native American artefacts. However, his life was also affected by the American trait for novelty and new fashions even in art. By the late 1880s his style was out of favour. He narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 1895 and by the time of his death in 1902 he was largely forgotten.

A summary of his career demonstrates a typical rise to success of the hard working, focussed American.  From the late 1850s he began to gain positive critical reception for his landscape work, joining the Hudson River School and The Rocky Mountain Group with Thomas Moran. These artists were interested in portraying majestic landscapes in the Romantic style with great emphasis on light. Throughout his career he made numerous journeys to the West. The technical proficiency he developed made his work extremely popular and his exhibition pieces were brilliantly crafted to glorify the West as a land of promise. His presence was requested by explorers undertaking westward expeditions and he was commissioned by several of the railroad companies to help publicise the attractions of the western landscapes.

In The Last of the Buffalo (1888) Bierstadt combines a variety of elements he had sketched during those western excursions. The view incorporates many topographical features representative of the Great Plains: prairies, hills, mesas, and snowcapped peaks. He is responding to public taste seeking a confirmation of the idealistic grandeur of the Wilderness. Virtually all of Thomas Cole’s essentials of American landscape are depicted: wildness, mountains, water and sky. The spectator is made aware of the vastness and so called 'emptiness' of the Plains interior and thereby receives confirmation of the opportunities of this great landscape. Likewise, the fertile landscape nurtures a profusion of plains wildlife, including elk, antelope, fox, rabbits, and even a prairie dog at lower left. A further reminder of the vast natural resources available.

The principle feature shows a Native American in combat with a charging buffalo, surrounded by dead and dying animals. To the right can be seen a group of Indians pursuing more of the seemingly limitless herd.

Much of this imagery can be critiqued as a romantic invention. By 1888 the buffalo was on the verge of extinction and Native Americans were being contained in reservations. Furthermore, many wild animals had to be re-introduced to the west when the railways sought to attract the first waves of hunter-tourists.

The scattering of the buffalo skulls and other bones in the foreground invites several readings of the scene. Is Bierstadt actually inviting us to lament on the slaughter and destruction? In 1886 the first concerns were being raised about the decimation of the buffalo. However, this painting firmly links that situation to the activities of Native Americans. 

 Lastly, was this, Bierstadt’s last great painting, his  contribution to the myth of the West, depicting people, who by their savagery, had no right to continue living within this much splendour?  

 References:

http://americanart.si.edu/education/pdf/seeing_art_in_a_historical_context.pdf

https://images.nga.gov/en/search/do_quick_search.html?q=%222014.79.5%22

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_railway_history
Winchester lecture notes 9th February 2017