‘Nature's most beautiful models’: George Catlin's choctaw ball-play paintings and the politics of Indian removal
| Autor: | Frank H. Goodyear |
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| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | The International Journal of the History of Sport. 23:138-153 |
| ISSN: | 1743-9035 0952-3367 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/09523360500478190 |
| Popis: | This essay analyses and contextualizes a group of paintings by George Catlin (1796–1872) that depict Choctaw tribe members involved in the sport of ball-play or lacrosse. Whereas previous scholars have used these works to emphasize the ethnographic nature of the artist's work, it contends that the series speaks to contemporary issues that the Choctaws were confronting at the time. Completed in 1834–35, Catlin's series of ball-play scenes represents a powerful statement regarding the removal of the Choctaws from their homelands in Mississippi to the newly-designated Indian Territory. His paintings create the impression that Native American habits and play had not been adversely impacted by the increasing presence of Euro-American settlers in the West. Thus, they had the ultimate effect of forestalling potential moral outrage against those responsible for degradations against Native American culture. Situated in this historical context, images of Native American ball-play should be seen less as romanticized... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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