Re-Framing the American West: Contemporary Artists Engage History

Abstract

This study examines contemporary artists who revisit, revise, reimagine, reclaim, and otherwise engage directly with art of the American Frontier from 1820-1920. The revision of the historic images calls attention to the myth and ideologies imbedded in the imagery. Likewise, these contemporary images are essentially a framing of western imagery informed by a system of values and interpretive strategies of the present. The re-framing of the historic West opens a dialogue that expands beyond the frame, to look at images and history from different angles. This dissertation examines twentieth- and twenty-first century artists such as the Cowboy Artists of America, Mark Klett, Tony Foster, Byron Wolfe, Stephen Hannock, Bill Schenck, and Kent Monkman alongside historic western American artists such as Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, Timothy O’Sullivan, Thomas Moran, W.R. Leigh, and Albert Bierstadt. The goals of the contemporary artists vary greatly, but collectively they challenge the notion of a singular history and interpretation of the American West. They examine the way in which the American West was framed through history, contributing to our understanding of both the nineteenth-century images and the contemporary experience.