John Gast’s American Progress,1877, Essay Example

John Gast’s 1872 painting, American Progress, portrays the symbolism and hopefulness of the turn-of-the-century belief in manifest destiny, the fateful or just extension of the United States from one shore to the other. Considering the intricacy, importance, and wide distribution of the painting, it is often forgotten that the original measured just over a foot in length and height (Sandweiss, n.d.). Still, there is even a foreground, which includes the advance of prospectors upon a path which their simple farming ancestors toiled to provide, and the popularity of the painting only provided more steam for the national determination to realize Gast’s vision.

During this time period, the nation was moved by the inspiration of the growing confidence in manifest destiny—the seeming certainty (whether a product of fate, divine right, etc.) that the territories of America were meant to stretch from the east to the west coast. The painting captures this ironic faith in a dualistic expression of the industrialized east and the still-wild west. These extremes are joined by the plains. The floating woman at the center of American Progress is reminiscent of the curly-haired figure of the statue of liberty, which was not begun until three years after this painting became a symbolic staple of the American frontier conflict and spirit. Rather than a torch, this woman balances a book of the standard educational knowledge of the time with the telegraph wires and railroad tracks she leaves trailing behind—both which would hasten the flight of the untamed west.

The progress is rapid, hectic, and messy, frightening hordes of Native Americans, buffalos, and other wildlife into the dead end of the shore. The faint awareness of the abandoned teepees resonates in the middle ground as the hordes are pursued by the trains, stagecoaches, and horses which exemplify the industrialization and social change of the time period. Gast is unapologetic about these changes, painting the Native Americans as half-naked and half-mad, running for their lives with the primal fear of the animals. The stagecoaches which close in on the Native Americans are urged on by whips, which control the beasts as surely as they repel the Native Americans. The American vision cast the Native Americans aside summarily, but the thrill of the hunt for something better seems to justify the means. After all, the sun does shine upon the east, and the idea of man overcoming human nature was embedded in the popular religious tenets of the day.

Nonetheless, Gast does not make mole hills out of mountains. He paints the somber clouds and towering peaks of the obstacles- complete with a curiosity which overcomes the foggy advance. He subtly acknowledges that all of the golden powers of foresight of the floating lady will be needed to further this vision. Indeed, the twinkling of the gold star upon her head seems a blessing upon the new nation’s quest, their very own star to point to the Promised Land. The angel-like figure’s clutched book also lays out a law of sorts, a rulebook for tolerance, and she appears ready to lasso and corral the fleeing people and creatures if necessary. Yet she remains outwardly placid and calm, floating upon the wave of popular support, bolstered by the robe which fans out like holy wings. She is not painted modestly. She is bounty; she is determination; she is America, Lady Liberty’s slightly-older sister and role model. Therein lies a depiction of the past upon which American expansion was written and an tacit acknowledgement of the sacrifices needed to see it through to the end.

References

Sandweiss, M. (n.d.). John Gast, American Progress, 1872. My Favorite Image: Amherst College. Retrieved from <http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=180>.