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The
Late 19th Century West: Images and Realities
No region is more shrouded in myth than the area west of the Mississippi
River. In popular films and best-selling novels, the late nineteenth
century western frontier was represented as a place where heroic,
ruggedly independent pioneers struggled against an unfamiliar
environment and brought civilization to a savage wilderness.
Throughout
much of the twentieth century, the cowboy and the western lawman
were the classic American heroes. While other episodes from the
American past faded, such as the era of the whale-hunting harpooner
or the lumberjack, the western frontier remained a staple of American
popular culture. Even today, long after the western movie has
declined in popularity, Americans still dress in blue jeans and
drive vehicles with western sounding names, like Durango, Mustang,
and Explorer.
For more than
a century, the West has served as a mythic space, more primitive
and natural than the eastern cities. It has remained at the center
of our national consciousness and our identity to people around
the world.
This eXploration
module provides links to artistic renderings of the West - to
images of Indians, Indian wars, Wild West shows, and the western
landscape.
In each instance,
one can ask:
1. How have artists depicted the western landscape and its inhabitants?
Is the West depicted as a lush landscape, a paradise of plenty;
as barren and arid; as mysterious and primitive; as a land filled
with hardships and struggles; or in some other way?
2.
Are these images realistic? If not, in what ways has the artist
romanticized the subject? In what way do the images capture
the spirit of the West?
3.
How have depictions of the West changed over time?
4.
What do individual works of art or photography tell us about
the culture, lifestyle, and fate Indians? about the character,
clothing, and way of life of cowboys or western settlers?
5.
Why have idealized images of West been so important to Americans'
identity as a people?
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