Friday, 10 February 2017

Western Imagery: Representations of Native America and the American West


Part 1: Native America: Wounded Knee Massacre, Oscar Howe (1960)
American Massacre

On December 29th, 1890, 150 American Indians (Sioux) were killed during a massacre at ‘Wounded Knee’, Pine Ridge Indian reservation, South Dakota. The Massacre was a result of the American Government aiming to halt the Sioux ghost dance movement, in which was practiced to ask the gods to rid the land of white man and create a new world. A video, "The Last of the Sioux" chronicles the history of the Sioux, and acts as a microcosm for the horrifying effects of Westward Expansion.

Trager and Howe: Depicting a Tragedy

Oscar Howe’s painting (above) portrays the massacre in a deliberately gruesome and poignant way. The image depicts the 7th Calvary slaughtering the Sioux. The Calvary are depicted as having ‘the high ground’, which helps bolster Howe’s depiction of the American Government as powerful, dominating and superior. The Sioux on the other hand are represented as a tribe who cannot stand up against the forceful Westward expansion, and so are portrayed as 'romantic victims' of manifest destiny, rather than 'reactionary savages' (Nittle). 

 Howe’s image can be seen to be influenced by George Trager’s photograph of Wounded Knee (left), in which similarly shows a pit of dead Sioux. Oscar Howe was an Indian himself, and depicted Native American traditions ‘through a modern aesthetic style of painting’. The painting was bought from Howe, and was given as a gift to President Eisenhower. It then resided in the ‘Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home’, to which it was removed for its graphic depictions.                                                                                                                                     

Part 2: The American West: Chimney Rock, Colorado. James L. Amos/National Geographic (1989)



American Landscape:
James L. Amos captured this image in Colorado during 1989. The image depicts the ‘Chimney Rock’ surrounded by Lightning and vast open plains. The National Geographic webpage introduces the image:

 ‘Iconic Chimney Rock, also known as Jackson Butte after pioneering photographer William Henry Jackson, stands alone as a horizontal lightning flash splits the threatening sky.’

The term ‘threatening’ in this piece begins describe the sublime in the image. As the photograph opens out, the land begins to reach for the skies with the ‘Chimney Rock’ personifying the humans reaching out to God and the heavens. Furthermore the lightning could represent the power and/or wrath of God in the West.

Example of American Exceptionalism

The photograph, among others, features in the National Geographic’s: ‘Greatest Photographs of the American West: Capturing 125 Years of Majesty, Spirit, and Adventure’. National Geographic, now a global non-profit organisation, was originally founded in Washington D.C. This may lead one to consider whether these images that capture American ‘Majesty, Spirit and Adventure’ represent American power and dominance in terms of its magnificent landscape, in an attempt to reinforce American exceptionalism.


Bibliography

Part 1:

History.com Staff, “Wounded Knee”, A+E Networks, History.com,2009. <http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee> accessed 10 February 2017                                                                                                                                          
=“Last of the Sioux” Video History.com = http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee/videos/the-last-of-the-sioux 

Nittle, Nadra Kareem. “5 Common Native American Stereotypes in Film and Television”. About News, Febuary 28, 2016. <http://racerelations.about.com/od/hollywood/a/Five-Common-Native-American-Stereotypes-In-Film-And-Television.htm>

 South Dakota State University: Website for a university                                      https://www.sdstate.edu/oscar-howe-biography

Zimny, Michael, “Oscar Howe's Wounded Knee Massacre, a Rarely Seen Masterpiece”, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, South Dakota, 2015. <http://www.sdpb.org/blogs/arts-and-culture/oscar-howes-wounded-knee-massacre-a-rarely-seen-masterpiece/> accessed 10 February 2017

Part 2:

National Geographic:  website for the non-profit nature organisation http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/greatest-photos-from-the-american-west/




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