John Mix Stanley chronicled Indian customs and people in 150 paintings that he placed on deposit at the Smithsonian in 1851, hoping they would be purchased by the U.S. government. His three works in the exhibition were among the few paintings that were not in the Smithsonian Castle Building when it went up in flames in 1865, destroying most of Stanley's lifework. Several works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, made after tribal groups were largely defeated and confined to reservations, reveal the regret and nostalgia felt by many American artists. Artists' fascination with the West mirrored the nation's determination to settle the American continent coast to coast. In this process of nation-building they transformed the lands and devastated native cultures.
Several artworks show the ambitious enterprise that inspired so many to move west.
August Wenderoth followed the rush to California when gold was discovered there in 1848. Thomas Moran's landscapes in the exhibition include views of the Upper Colorado River in Wyoming Territory, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Kanab Canyon in Utah. Several artists in the exhibition were part of the Taos School, begun informally when East Coast artists visited the Southwest in the 1890s. They portrayed not only Indian subjects but also the dramatic landscapes and age-old Hispanic cultures of the Southwest. This book and other items relating to the history of the American West will be on sale in the Museum of Art Gift Shop, located next to the museum lobby.