What materials did he use; how can you tell? What did American Indians use to create art before these materials were available? (paint on teepee walls)
At first we were surprised that Caton had given Black Hawk such "unrefined" art materials as a notebook with lined pages, a pen and colored pencils. But given the Lakotas' lifestyle, why were these materials sufficient? (The Lakota were nomadic; a notebook and a few small drawing implements were far easier to transport than, say, dozens of canvases and hundreds of tubes of paint)
Compare to Catlin and Wyeth: 1) Which is the most historically accurate? Why? 2) How are the paintings similar and different?
Why did William Edward Caton want these drawings? (Caton had originally planned to get Black Hawk to illustrate his dream, but with the vast majority of the images being about everyday life, they were still valuable as a record of a lifestyle and culture that was on the verge of extinction.)
http://www.plainsledgerart.org/view.pila?action=list&LEDGER_ID=10 – includes animals, battles, spirits. Ledger books became popular in tribes – how were they different from teepee painting? (More private, could choose who to show them to, better for describing mundane, humorous, etc., events as well.) The image at the left is one of the first two drawings in this book; it depicts a thunder spirit. What can we recognize in this image that reflects the nature of this being?
Many 20th century Native American artists depict tribal life and rituals in a manner far different from the ways white artists depict their ideas of Native American culture. Artists such as Wyeth used rough brushstrokes, unmixed colors and little detail to illustrate The Last of the Mohicans, and this may be seen as a commentary on the wild, "unrefined" lifestyle of the Indians. However, artists such as Maria Montoya Martinez and Woodrow Crumbo (examples of work below) depict Native American life in an entirely different way. Martinez and Crumbo both work graceful, fluid lines, invisible brush strokes, and Crumbo with an incredible attention to stylization and detail.
Woodrow (Woody) Crumbo, 1912-1989 - Potowatomi Indian from Oklahoma, became a well-known artist of Native American subjects. Of his career, he wrote: "Half of my life passed in striving to complete the pictorial record of Indian history, religion, rituals, customs, way of life, and philosophies . . . a graphic record that a million words could not begin to tell." He also led a troupe that performed and collected traditional Indian dances while pursuing a degree in art.
Is there going to be a test this week?
ReplyDelete~Paige