Panel II: Art and Material Sources
At the Edge of the Frontier: Ambiguities in Self-Representation and Inconsistencies in the Works of George Catlin
Start Date
31-3-2012 9:15 AM
End Date
31-3-2012 11:00 AM
Description
This paper focuses on the western frontier as an epitomized space where white American expansionism came into conflict with native peoples’ initial territorial claims. This theme is presented through a minute examination of the life and works of the nineteenth century American artist, George Catlin.
Famed for his Native American portraits and landscapes, Catlin traveled throughout America’s still unsettled western territories during an eight year sojourn that lasted from 1832 to 1840. However, the current notoriety attributed to Catlin’s works only came about posthumously and certainly did not mirror the reception by his peers. The controversy surrounding Catlin’s works rests in the contentious, and as various biographers and historians have noted, the inconsistent representations of Native Americans in his paintings. The contemplation of Catlin’s subjectivity, or lack of, is then made further problematic by his practice of commonly including himself within his works, where he simultaneously plays the role as both creator of and sitter in his paintings.
Catlin chose to include himself within one of his most recognizable works, The Author Painting a Chief at the Base of the Rocky Mountains, which was produced in 1841. Where Catlin presents himself in the 1841 work as simultaneously belonging to and being separate from his native subjects, so too did the western frontier present itself as both supporting an invitation of settlement in its vast landscape, while also contesting settlement by the presence of aboriginal peoples. The present ambiguity and opposing ideologies in the subject matter of Catlin similarly reflected the conflicting position the western frontier held for the Antebellum United States.
At the Edge of the Frontier: Ambiguities in Self-Representation and Inconsistencies in the Works of George Catlin
This paper focuses on the western frontier as an epitomized space where white American expansionism came into conflict with native peoples’ initial territorial claims. This theme is presented through a minute examination of the life and works of the nineteenth century American artist, George Catlin.
Famed for his Native American portraits and landscapes, Catlin traveled throughout America’s still unsettled western territories during an eight year sojourn that lasted from 1832 to 1840. However, the current notoriety attributed to Catlin’s works only came about posthumously and certainly did not mirror the reception by his peers. The controversy surrounding Catlin’s works rests in the contentious, and as various biographers and historians have noted, the inconsistent representations of Native Americans in his paintings. The contemplation of Catlin’s subjectivity, or lack of, is then made further problematic by his practice of commonly including himself within his works, where he simultaneously plays the role as both creator of and sitter in his paintings.
Catlin chose to include himself within one of his most recognizable works, The Author Painting a Chief at the Base of the Rocky Mountains, which was produced in 1841. Where Catlin presents himself in the 1841 work as simultaneously belonging to and being separate from his native subjects, so too did the western frontier present itself as both supporting an invitation of settlement in its vast landscape, while also contesting settlement by the presence of aboriginal peoples. The present ambiguity and opposing ideologies in the subject matter of Catlin similarly reflected the conflicting position the western frontier held for the Antebellum United States.
Comments
Panel II of the 2012 Graduate History Conference features presentations and papers under the topic of "Art and Material Sources."
Jenna Reed's presentation is the third presentation in this panel.