building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici
building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici
building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici
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<strong>the</strong> machine has not yet reached. This picture is totally allegorical. If <strong>the</strong> animals<br />
represent <strong>the</strong> wild world, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> book held tightly by <strong>the</strong> goddess symbolises <strong>the</strong><br />
civilising mission and awareness of America. The groups of people also have to be<br />
interpreted in <strong>the</strong> logic of <strong>the</strong> advance of progress from East to West, similar to <strong>the</strong><br />
movement of <strong>the</strong> sun. The human figures in <strong>the</strong> bottom right‐hand corner are<br />
typical colonists. They have bordered <strong>the</strong>ir property with a fence, <strong>the</strong>y have built a<br />
house on <strong>the</strong>ir own land and <strong>the</strong>y are ploughing <strong>the</strong> fields in order to start sowing<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir crops. A little fur<strong>the</strong>r on are <strong>the</strong> pioneers on horseback and <strong>the</strong> hunters who<br />
open up <strong>the</strong> road. Where a prairie schooner has passed lie <strong>the</strong> carcasses of <strong>the</strong><br />
buffalo, <strong>the</strong> tragic remains of <strong>the</strong> passage of <strong>the</strong> white man, signs of <strong>the</strong> advancing<br />
frontier. At <strong>the</strong> foot of <strong>the</strong> mountains, amidst <strong>the</strong> mist vague forms appear which<br />
make us think of troops of soldiers on <strong>the</strong> move or of stable settlements which<br />
blend into <strong>the</strong> horizon. To <strong>the</strong> left of <strong>the</strong> picture, between <strong>the</strong> fleeing buffalo and<br />
wild animals, are <strong>the</strong> Indians, portrayed as incapable and reluctant to adapt to<br />
progress. The only threat is suggested by <strong>the</strong> dust roused by <strong>the</strong> buffalo, which<br />
envelops <strong>the</strong> left‐hand side of <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong> in an aura of mystery. This does not<br />
really intimidate, but is ra<strong>the</strong>r a setback which arouses <strong>the</strong> explorer’s curiosity.<br />
Gast’s <strong>landscape</strong>, full of familiar scenes of frontier life, is powerfully descriptive and<br />
engrossing, even though it is based on stereotypes and summons up <strong>the</strong> symbols of<br />
<strong>the</strong> culture of Manifest Destiny. The conquest of new territories proved essential in<br />
<strong>the</strong> development of <strong>the</strong> ideology of <strong>the</strong> frontier and <strong>the</strong> American economy.<br />
At first, expansion was a simple affirmation of backward, predatory systems to<br />
exploit <strong>the</strong> soil and <strong>the</strong> natural resources. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, expansion reflected <strong>the</strong><br />
needs of <strong>the</strong> landowners of <strong>the</strong> Deep South, who had used <strong>the</strong> plantations to create<br />
an effective driving force to conquer <strong>the</strong> territories. Agricultural production costs<br />
remained low and consumed land capital. At a later stage, colonisation of <strong>the</strong> West<br />
began to create a conscience in people, which became part of <strong>the</strong> American<br />
ideology. The Dimes novels by Erastus Flavel Beadle (1821‐1894) and <strong>the</strong> paintings<br />
of <strong>the</strong> West helped to make a world of pioneers, outlaws, stage‐coaches, buffalo<br />
hunters and Indians generally familiar [Figures 128‐134]. Without any awareness,<br />
<strong>the</strong> Americans were destroying <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong>s, for which <strong>the</strong>y had fought so dearly.<br />
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