Between May 1804 and September 1806, Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark and their Corps of Discovery explored a new
expanse of America known as the Louisiana Purchase. They encountered
lands, rivers, and peoples previously unknown Americans east of the
Mississippi. During the next sixty-five years, Lewis and
Clark’s journey was followed by other explorations of the
West, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada
to Mexico.
Artists often accompanied explorers as they encountered the unexpected
and unique subjects of the American West. Inspired by the thrill of
adventure and the majesty of high mountains, great chasms, and
wide-open spaces, artists became eyewitnesses and visual commentators
of the changing shape of the frontier— and the tragic
displacement of American Indian tribes. As these artists sought to
capture on paper and canvas what they saw during their explorations and
travels, they gave birth to American western art.
After
Lewis and Clark highlights more than sixty paintings,
drawings, and prints in the collection of one of America’s
finest museums of American art, the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. This richly illustrated book presents and places in aesthetic
and historical context many of the priceless portraits, striking
scenes, and grand landscapes inspired during the sixty-five years after
the Corps of Discovery completed its epic journey. It features the
works of notable artists of the 19th century American West, including
George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, Alfred Jacob Miller, Charles Bird King,
Paul Kane, Seth Eastman, Carl Wimar, John Mix Stanley, Albert
Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran. |
After Lewis & Clark
The Forces of
Change,
1806-1871
by Gary Allen Hood
Gilcrease Museum, 2006.
Order
a copy
|
