American Progress?


Image: American Progress; Creator: John Gast; Source: Invaluable

    In the image above, the painter, John Gast, seeks to connect the viewer to the American idea of Manifest Destiny through aspects of Romanticism, such as the power of nature or emotion. Through these connections, Gast poses questions of expansion and control, topics which can be applied universally.

    Gast's first selected Romanticist trait is the power of nature. In the image, the setting of a vast sprawling field with mountains and rivers provides the basis for Gast's message. The American movement can be seen chasing out a group of Native American's, displaying the idea of Manifest Destiny. The industry and developments of American civilization is changing the landscape from right to left, showing that manifest destiny would impact the powers of nature in a significant way.

    Emotion is displayed within the representation of an angel, spearheading the American movement. While this displays that the American's believed it to be their divine right to conquer the Western front, it also displays many aspects of Romanticism. The angel is an abstract image overlaying the fairly realistic background, leading to ideas of the freedom of expression within Romanticism.

    Gast's display of Western expansion calls into question the rights of the natives, leading the viewer at first to see a glorified version of Manifest Destiny, but then places doubts in their mind about the movement. This reactionary artwork can be seen within recent events, such as the BLM protests where many take images of what they are protesting and use them to show other citizens their issues with society.

Comments

  1. Megan KensingtonOctober 6, 2020 at 5:07 PM

    There are some powerful ideas here; I like the connections you've made between nature, emotion, and control. I would have liked to hear more of your thoughts on how BLM artwork accomplishes similar goals to the artwork here. Were there any examples of art you've seen you were thinking of? I can think of a few that might be useful to compare/contrast with the image here; even photographs from protests would be interesting to put side by side with this painting. Even though they show different forms, the common ideas are useful to consider together.

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  2. IrelandOctober 12, 2020 at 11:43 PM

    Hi Mike, I really enjoyed reading your piece, mainly because I've always been very curious to know other people's take on this extremely famous painting. We had many debates about it in my high school history classes and I find your interpretation of the angel as an emotionally evocative being to be extremely interesting. Also, I love how you mention the clash between reality and the supernatural found in this painting, it reminds me of a painting done by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo called "The Angels' Kitchen" that you might really enjoy.

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