Page 77 - 2015 Russell Catalogue

2015 SymposiumPeter HassrickPeter Hassrick, director emeritus and senior scholar, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, WYThe Last of the BuffaloIn 1832, the artist George Catlin appealed to Americans to pay attention to the West and its exceptional people and resources. He was afraid that the bison that ranged in teaming millions might be exploited and that the Indians who depended on them could be decimated as a result. His plea was prescient. Within half a century, the bison were almost extinct, the Indians were forced onto reservations, and America’s unique frontier was quickly closing. Many artists played roles in recounting this tragic development, but none so profoundly as the grand manner painter, Albert Bierstadt. His monumental allegory to the bison’s demise, The Last of the Buffalo, is a centerpiece for any study of Yellowstone National Park and the compelling narrative of efforts to save America’s last remnant herd of bison there in the late nineteenth century.Joni Kinsey, Ph.D., professor of American art history, University of Iowa, Iowa CityThomas Moran’s Art, National Parks, and the Conservation MovementThomas Moran was the first artist to visit and portray the Yellowstone region,and his art was instrumental in convincing Congress to establish the area as the first national park in 1872. In subsequent years, he visited many other sites that would become national parks, and his art played a major role in helping establish their identities as important American icons. In many cases, his work can be tied directly to the issue of conservation, but at the same time, close examination of the works in context reveals important tensions between that effort and competing movements of commercial development and ecological destruction.Joni Kinsey, Ph.D.Return to Table of Contents