Yesterday in conversation with his Dissertation Chair, Harrogate said something which reminded his Chair of this lovingly murderous painting by John Gast, rendered in 1872. The Title is American Progress.
Later Harrogate found the following anonymous precis online:
"A DIAPHANOUSLY AND PRECARIOUS CLAD AMERICA FLOATS WESTWARD THRU THE AIR WITH THE "STAR OF EMPIRE" ON HER FOREHEAD. SHE HAS LEFT THE CITIES OF THE EAST BEHIND, AND THE WIDE MISSISSIPPI, AND STILL HER COURSE IS WESTWARD. IN HER RIGHT HAND SHE CARRIES A SCHOOL BOOK--TESTIMONIAL OF THE NATIONAL ENLIGHTENMENT, WHILE WITH HER LEFT SHE TRAILS THE SLENDER WIRES OF THE TELEGRAPH THAT WILL BIND THE NATION. FLEEING HER APPROACH ARE INDIANS, BUFFALO, WILD HORSES, BEARS, AND OTHER GAME, DISAPPEARING INTO THE STORM AND WAVES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. THEY FLEE THE WONDEROUS VISION--THE STAR "IS TOO MUCH FOR THEM."
1 comment:
Oh mighty harrogate--you might find Asher Durand's the "Progress or the Advance of Civilization" (1853) an interesting comparison to Ghast's image of the beauty of the Westward expansion.
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