 | The interest for the life and customs of the American Indians came once again into high fashion when the first filmmakers in Hollywood began producing the first Westerns, a genre that would prove to be hugely popular all around the world. The representantions in this type of movies, more often based on the subjective works of European and US artists, became iconic images, creating a certain way of understanding Native American culture, still existing today. The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, is presenting these images and concepts in a rich exhibition, "Legacy and Legend : Images of Indians from Four Centuries", depicting the Indians from the 16th to the 19th century. |
The most important artists that represented the American Indians, either after seeing them first hand or according to various sources (when imagination and myth became all powerful), were European or at least European trained. They really knew little about the indians, so the images were both Romantic and dramatical. As new technologies for copying and reproducing made the works cheaper, the artists tried to offer the public the unusual of Indian culture : distinct clothing and weaponry, rituals, hunts. The life of the Indians was exotic, strange, pagan and at the same time fascinating.
George Catlin, "Indian Hunting Buffalo." Hand-colored lithographic print, from Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844
This representantions are still powerfull, many of these changing very little over time. The men are still depicted as hunters and warriors, women are hardly seen and on the whole the Indians seem to be all blood thirsty and fanatically opposed the White man. Some artists, especially in the last decades of the 19th century, tried to preserve the important elements and customs of the Indian tribes, capturing these onto canvas and paper.
 | The exhibition at the Huntington Library features rare works, mostly from the institution's own collection, including what is considered to be the first image depincting American Indians, woodcut from a book narrating Columbus landing, published in 1495. Also, several prints and litographies by artists such as Peter Rindisbacher Thomas McKenny, James Hall, photographs by Carl Moon and Edward Curtis or several artefacts will be on show. |
Photo : huntington.org
2007-07-13
