Heritage, Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 1989 Page: 22
31 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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BOOK REVIEW
Collecting the West: The
C. R. Smith Collection of
Western American Art
Collecting the West: The C. R. Smith Collection
of Western American Art; Richard H.
Saunders, University of Texas Press.
Reviewed by Jeb Nichols
In these days of Star Wars and high
technology, of radar dishes and fast food, it
seems almost impossible that America was
ever young. Can it have ever been that the
vast lands west of the Mississippi were
dotted not with Minuteman missile sites
and McDonald's but with buffalo herds and
Indian villages? What happened? Howand
where-has it gone?
This collection of American Western
art answers some of those questions and
raises many more. With color and black
and white illustrations, it presents all the
work in the C.R. Smith Collection. The
.paintings and sculptures are accompanied
by brief descriptions, relating facts of the
artist's life and placing the work in context.
Starting with the early 1800s, it chronicles
the emergence and early popularity of
Western art, its commercial and artistic
successes, and its eventual arrival, in the
last ten years, at full "fine art" credibility.
The collection is impressive, ranging from
well-known artists like Catlin, Remington
and Charles Russell, to lesser known, often
completely forgotten painters and sculptors.
The vision of the West these painters
chose to paint and the style in which they
chose to paint it raises intriguing questions.
The clash of cultures is evident from the
beginning: the Indian and the white man,
the European and the American, the
modern and the classic. The plates are
arranged not chronologically but alphabetically
by artist, which is a shame because
the progression into modem times is fascinating.
The early paintings are all of a
European classical school, big impressive
oils just perfect for hanging in an Eastern
business boardroom, a romantic, masculine
touch of homegrown exotica. So
.2 HERITAGE * SUMMER 1989before Russell and Remington developed a
more fluid and implicitly American style,
the mood had already been set. Thus the
paintings that sold, and have therefore
survived to be collected, conform by and
large to that early criteria. The Indians are
pictured in one of two ways, either as idyllic
and peaceful earth worshippers, or warring
savages. Cowboys are hardworking heroic
horsemen, constantly roping cows and
rolling cigarettes. Soldiers are brave.
Rarely do the paintings, stylistically or in
content, step outside these clearly defined
areas. A certain doomed romanticism
unites them, a sentimental refusal to let go,
an ironically unrealistic vision, painted by
masters of realism. By first failing to record
anything other than a readily acceptable
and easily digestible version of the West,
and then later by turning their backs on
modernism, they helped pasteurize and
tame the very thing they had first loved. It's
an irony this book never comes to terms
with. Like the paintings, it is content to sit
back and view a comfortable vision of the
West through a haze of nostalgia.
This is not, however, to dismiss the
book. Western art and culture, too often
ignored by art academics, is a vital part of
American art history. In these times with
interest in Western art keener than ever
before, these artists and their contributions
should be discussed and learned from.The Hopi Photographs
The Hopi Photographs, Kate Cory: 19051912;
Marnie Gaede, Barton Wright &
Marc Gaede; The University of New
Mexico Press; paperback $19.95, Cl $35.
Reviewed by Susan K. Moore, Texas
Memorial Museum, UT-Austin
This selection of 68 photographs, never
before published, were chosen from 642
negatives taken by the artist Kate
Thompson Cory from 1905 to 1912.
Chosen for their "aesthetic and historic
importance," these photos represent sevenyears of Hopi life at the villages of Oraibi
and Walpi in which Kate Cory lived. The
book is divided into three short articles
followed by the photographs. The first article,
"Kate Cory: Artist of Arizona" by
Mamie Gaede, illuminates what little is
known about Kate Cory, the close companion
to the Hopi. Marnie Gaede notes
the difference of Cory's photographs from
the few taken by other artists during a time
in which access to Hopi culture was very
rare. The second article, "A Hopi Essay" by
Barton Wright, prosaically summarizes the
essence of Hopi life. Wright's essay enhances
the aesthetic appeal the authors
wish to emphasize in Cory's photos. The
third article, "Printing the Kate Cory Images"
by Marc Gaede, describes the process
of conserving and printing of the negatives.The photographs themselves were selected
and arranged according to the Hopi
ceremonial calendar. Each photo is accompanied
by a descriptive title (I assume that
this is Cory's description) along with a
short description of the scene it portrays,
selected from various historical sources
written about the Hopi since 1776. As the
authors emphasize, Cory's photographs
offer a culturally sensitive and unique
glimpse into "the heart" of Hopi life that is
of significant importance to the understanding
of their culture. Scenes of Hopi
individuals in daily activity seem very informal,
as though the camera went unnoticed.
Plate 46 offers a very different view
into Hopi life. Cory captured three men
struggling in the preliminary violence that
led to the division of Old Oraibi in 1906.
The authors provide enough information
to contextualize the event of each photograph
yet they leave the interpretation of
Cory's artistic intent to the reader.
One wonders about the remaining 574
photographs that were not published here.
While selection of photographs representing
the Hopi ceremonial calendar offers
comparative data to the photos taken by
Joseph Mora from 1904-1906 (also following
the Hopi calendar), I only wonder what
might be learned about other aspects of
Hopi life that are reflected within Cory's
remaining collection. Nevertheless, The
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 1989, periodical, Summer 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45431/m1/22/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.