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Course: The Seeing America Project > Unit 9
Lesson 5: For teachers: learning resources1600-1870: learning resources
Mission Church, San Esteban del Rey, Acoma Pueblo
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Most of the photographs in this essay were taken by Dr. Steven Zucker and can be found here.
Edward Proctor Hunt, The Origin Myth of Acoma Pueblo (Penguin Classics, 2015)
Ward Alan Minge and Simon Ortiz, Acoma: Pueblo in the Sky (University of New Mexico Press, 1991).
Europe's earliest views of America
Key points
- Testifying to the ongoing processes of European exploration and colonization, James Wooldridge’s Indians of Virginia is a third-generation image, created 200 years after the original artistic records. This painting was based on a popular series of engraving by Theodor de Bry from the late 16th century, which were themselves based on watercolors made by John White around 1585.
- John White was a cartographer and naturalist during Sir Walter Raleigh’s exploration of territories in present-day Virginia and North Carolina. White’s watercolors, and the prints and paintings based on them, interpreted aspects of Native American life —in this case Algonquin people— for a European audience. The paintings combine his observations with European traditions of art, blending the exotic and the familiar in order to interest people in either investing in or participating in Raleigh’s ventures.
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More to think about
John White’s watercolors, turned into prints by de Bry, and then reinterpreted by Wooldridge fueled the imagination of Europeans of what the “New World” looked like. Compare this standing figure depicted by White and de Bry with the contrapposto figure highlighted in the video. What changes in each version? How does the visual context for each version affect our understanding?
A Jewish family in early New York
Key points
- This series of six paintings captures three generations of the Levy-Franks, a wealthy merchant family who were part of the small community of Jewish immigrants who settled in lower Manhattan. Their shipping empire supplied the British during the French & Indian War, carried goods on Caribbean trade routes, and possibly brought enslaved people to the Americas.
- These portraits were created by a limner painter, who most likely had no formal training but certainly knew English mezzotints of the aristocracy. Their poses, dress, and accessories align the family with the upper class. The paintings would have conveyed their wealth and celebrated the family network.
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More to think about
The portraits reinforce the wealth and social status of the Levy-Franks family, but also create a strong network between the members of three generations. Looking at the portraits together, how did the artist emphasize family connections and create a unified sense of community?
"We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Key points
- Admiral Perry’s victory in the Battle of Lake Erie was a turning point in the War of 1812 and the development of the American empire. The American forces defeated the powerful British navy, demonstrating the growing international strength of the United States.
- Connecting British Canada and the U.S., Lake Erie was strategically important, especially in a larger war that centered on controlling the conduits of international trade. The victory also enabled American expansion westward, beyond the original colonies along the eastern seaboard. This was a tragic development for Native Americans in the region, especially after Tecumseh, who had organized a confederacy of native peoples in alliance with the British, was killed in a subsequent battle.
- Thomas Birch relied on reports and military sketches to capture the details of the battle with great precision. Building on a tradition of Dutch marine painting, he depicts the confusion and chaos of the battle, but also signals America’s ultimate victory.
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More to think about
The decisive victory at the Battle of Lake Erie was also celebrated in a painting by William Henry Powell. Compare the depictions of the battle by Powell and Thomas Birch. What are some of the differences in how each artist chose to represent the American victory? How do those choices impact your response to each painting?
Hiram S. Powers, The Greek Slave
Key points
- The Greek Slave was inspired by the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830) and depicts a young Christian women being sold at a market in Constantinople. Instantly popular, Powers made multiple copies of the statue, starting in 1843 and ending with this version from 1866.
- Powers became an abolitionist in the 1850s, and this statue takes on new meaning when considered against the growing conflicts over American slavery which culminated in the Civil War. In this final version from 1866, the replacement of the original chains with a set of manacles emphasizes this connection, and makes clear the political sympathies of the artist.
- Although the female nude was a controversial subject in Victorian America, Powers stressed the modesty and Christian virtues of The Greek Slave. Details in the sculpture, along with the narrative written by the artist to explain her story, framed this figure as a victim.
- The popularity of The Greek Slave in America and England led to a market for copies. Through new technologies, the statue could be more easily reproduced and transformed into formats for the mass-market. Powers filed a patent to protect his work from unauthorized copyists.
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The Greek Slave at the National Gallery of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (the two other copies are held by Raby Castle, England, and Newark Museum, New Jersey)
More to think about
According to the video, Hiram Powers created a backstory to go with his sculpture, which was included in a pamphlet given to people who came to see The Greek Slave. Why do you think he created this story? Should a work of art have to be explained by its creator?
The Greek Slave was so popular that it was replicated in many different materials for home decoration and even used on product packaging. Do you think that the popularization of this political sculpture helped to spread the artist’s message, or do you think it diluted that message? Can you think of a modern example of a powerful image that was later adopted for commercial purposes?
Cotton, oil, and the economics of history
Key points
- Cotton was a valuable cash crop for the American South, but as a labor-intensive crop, plantations depended on enslaved people to work the fields. The economic strength of the cotton market contributed heavily to the secession of the Confederacy and the Civil War.
- During the Civil War, Edward Atkinson proposed that the Union army could seize cotton plantations, freeing their slaves and employing them to continue harvesting cotton crops. Known as contrabands, these freed slaves were paid minimal wages and given certain rights. Their product was known as “free labor cotton” and it was popular in abolitionist countries, like England.
- Samuel Colman’s Ships Unloading, New York includes a new export, petroleum. Following the discovery of oil fields in western Pennsylvania, petroleum was marketed as a replacement for whale oil. After the invention of the combustion engine, oil would become an important commodity of international trade.
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More to think about
By seizing cotton plantations and paying workers in contraband camps for their labor, the Union marketed its cotton as a more ethical product. How does this compare to modern marketing of ethical clothing? How are today’s ideas of what makes something an “ethical” product similar to what they were in the 1860s?