Pioneering work

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That subset of American art called Western is a far cry from American art inspired by the West. Much of what we call "Western art" or "cowboy art" involves a simplistic, narrative realism that invokes an insipid clich� of the comic-book West. Art inspired by the West, however, involves a much greater vision of the frontier, of redemption, of grandeur and the moral integrity of nature.

Some 64 works of art are on display at the Delaware Art Museum’s temporary home at the First USA Riverfront Arts Center through Feb. 16. "Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" demonstrates the great influence the West has had on the popular imagination and how that image was treated over the years.

This traveling exhibition, one of eight the Smithsonian has on the road, tells the story of a public east of the Mississippi that is drawn westward "to pursue the unknown and discover new peoples and new landscapes."

Museum notes on the exhibition neatly sum up the chronology: "Initially the unexplored region called merely for discovery, but soon Americans began to conceive of the Western landscape as a pristine wilderness that revealed what the world might have been like before the intervention of man. This notion of the new world versus the old reflected the commonly held belief that America was still a land in its natural state as compared to the old European landscape, whose surface had been under constant modification since prehistoric times."

Elizabeth Broun, director of the Smithsonian, writes: "First explorers and trappers, then settlers and immigrants, were drawn to the lands and opportunities for a new life in the American West. Artists were quick to discover new and exciting subjects in the vast wilderness, mountains and prairies, as well as in the native and Hispanic people who lived beyond the Mississippi River."

The time period of the exhibition extends into the 20th century; however,


the golden age of this type of painting falls in the first half of the 19th century, somewhere between the exploration of Lewis and Clark and the Civil War, when Western expansion was in full swing. The show covers roughly from 1820 to 1940.

At this point there was great curiosity about the West, and on the heels of the explorer came the artist, always drawn to new peoples, landscapes and experiences. The art reflected the national sentiment, which had always been a concept of openness, opportunity and the ability of a man to create his own destiny by carving out a place in nature. One of the earliest expressions of this sentiment came from the British clergyman Dean George Berkeley, who wrote of his hopes to build a school in the new world: "Westward the course of empire takes its way."

That is also the title of one of the works in the show, a study created by Emanuel Leutze for his mural in the U.S. House of Representatives. Leutze also painted the famous scene of Gen. George Washington standing up in his boat while crossing the Delaware to lead his troops in a Christmas attack on the Hessians in Trenton.

Another influential artist featured in the exhibition is George Catlin, a Pennsylvanian who began his treks to the West in 1830, when the wilderness was virtually at his back door. Catlin painted the peoples of the West with the authority of one who lived with the Indians, knew their ways and experienced their traditions. His published sketches and writings provided other artists with source material.

Albert Bierstadt, a Romantic painter, created some of the most magical and mystical paintings ever inspired by the West. His vista paintings were generally sketched on the spot and later finished with the aid of his imagination. That his vision would also be one of grandeur can be observed from his remarks about one Western trip: "We are now here in the Garden of Eden, I call it. The most magnificent place I was ever in." He was referring to Yosemite Valley, but the sentiment drew equally strong praise from many different artists in many different places.

Finally, there is a section of portraits that spans a wide spectrum of peoples — pioneers and prospectors, Indians and settlers. While the paintings are interesting on their own as works of art both realistic and romantic, this exhibition also documents our visions of the West and how time has changed them.

Lure of the West:
Treasures from the
Smithsonian American

Art Museum
Delaware Art Museum
First USA Riverfront Arts Center
800 S. Madison St.
Wilmington, Del.
(temporary location)
302-571-9590
www.delart.org
Through Feb. 16
Museum admission: $7 general, $5 over 60, $2.50 students and under 6