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| "Currents
of Change: Art and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861"
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
27 June, 2004–26 September, 2004
Jason T. Busch
Christopher Monkhouse
Janet L. Whitmore
Currents of Change: Art and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in collaboration with the University
of Minnesota Press, 2004
192 pp; 165 color illus., 15 b/w illus.; index; $34.95 (paperback).
ISBN 0-8166-4452-7 |
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The artistic heritage of the Mississippi
River valley has for some time moved in and out of the general public's
recognition, remaining instead an area of scholarship specific to
collectors, historians, and curators. The first major exhibition examining
the arts of Mississippi River valley was held at the City Art Museum
of St. Louis—now the Saint Louis Art Museum—in 1950, entitled
"Mississippi Panorama." Following this exhibition, the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis organized an exhibition in 1976 entitled
"The River: Images of the Mississippi." The most recent
exhibition to treat the subject was during the early nineties when
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts organized "Minnesota 1900:
Art and Life on the Upper Mississippi, 1890-1915." Clearly research
has been progressing in this area, but never has an all-encompassing
view of the Mississippi valley been examined—one which suggests
the diverse and dynamic nature of the entire River valley from the
far reaches of the untouched north to the fashionable and bustling
southern ports. Equally absent was an exploration of the overall importance
of the River itself for the dissemination of ideas and the creation
of a culturally refined Mississippi valley region. |
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In a culmination
of these diverse areas of research, the current exhibition at the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts entitled "Currents of Change: Art
and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861," curated by
Jason T. Busch, Christopher Monkhouse, and Janet Whitmore, offers
a fresh perspective of the River and the steamboat as the primary
conduits for both the necessities of commerce and the propagation
of artistic style (fig. 1). It introduces Midwesterners to a new sense
of their artistic heritage and the importance that the river played
in forging a new identity, one that was more than simply a product
of aesthetic consumption, but also one of the dissemination of the
image of the River itself . Itinerant artists, painters, sculptors,
designers, and poets manifested a new identity for the River through
their works, thereby introducing the Mississippi to the cultural milieu
of America and advertising the beauty of the region far beyond its
borders. |
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Unique in its scale and scope, this
large exhibition of over 150 objects, ranging from oil and watercolor
painting to daguerreotypes to Rococo Revival furniture and porcelain,
offers visitors a rare opportunity to explore more fully the artistic
heritage engendered by the mighty Mississippi and to gauge the contribution
of the River in the establishment of a sophisticated society. It commemorates
the sesquicentennial of the "Grand Excursion," the steamboat
tour which traveled along the Mississippi from Rock Island, Illinois
to Saint Paul, Minnesota, taking visitors through the changing landscape
and lifestyle that was the Mississippi valley. The exhibition is accompanied
by a praise-worthy catalogue replete with images of the exhibition
objects and more, including explanatory photographs. Three thematic
essays provided by the curators offer a more in-depth analysis of
the issues surrounding the exhibition. Considering the limited explanatory
text provided along with the exhibition, those wanting to fully understand
the arts of the Mississippi River Valley would be encouraged to secure
the catalogue. |
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Even before the eighteenth century,
the Mississippi River valley had begun attracting explorers such as
Marquette and Joliet who were drawn to the River Valley for its rich
commercial prospects. These men and others established a strong French
presence in the Mississippi River valley, a relationship that would
continue to flourish, and which later impacted the arts of the nineteenth-century.
With the continued expansion of commerce and trade along the Mississippi,
the importance of the River shifted from being purely commercial to
artistic—though its commercialism was never entirely separate.
More artists and travelers began to seek out the river as a source
of pleasure, inspired by its majestic qualities and tranquil landscape.
As the interest in the river took on new dimensions, art and culture
were invigorated by the influx of people and artistic ideas, establishing
the River and its valley as a region with its own unique interests
and aesthetic trends. |
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Rather than examine the entire history
of the Mississippi River valley, an almost impossible task, "Currents
of Change" focuses on a definitive period in America's history—1850-1861.
This was a period of industrial expansion and personal exploration
just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, when the steamboat was
the primary means of transportation before the railroads obliterated
their use. The steamboat offered both commercial transport and a luxurious
tour along the river, where each person could marvel at the passing
landscape. A key presence throughout the exhibition, the steamboat
highlights the physical transmission of objects and underscores their
suggested influence on acculturation. As the river valley continued
both its industrial and residential development during this period,
artists began grappling with the issue of how to portray these rapid
transformations, an especially significant quality for the region
of the upper Mississippi where the natural landscape was deeply prized.
The exhibition also posits the question: Should the modernization
of the Mississippi Valley, that which exploits the natural landscape
and environment and distorts it into almost unrecognizable form, be
heralded, or should the unaltered past be portrayed and glorified
for its beauty and naturalness? |
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Issues such as these surface upon
examination of the organization of the exhibition, which is organized
into seven rooms beginning with a geographic and then thematic arrangement
accompanied by text explaining the very general context of the themes.
Given the paucity of prior scholarship on this subject, however, viewers
would have benefited from further wall contextualization or the presence
of explanatory pamphlets. Despite this minor oversight, the depth
and breadth of the objects presented is astounding, always maintaining
a sense of rather refined luxury juxtaposed against the prevailing
sense of the elegiac landscape setting. Arrangements of watercolors,
daguerreotypes, photographs, and prints, complement the numerous pieces
of porcelain, furniture, and oil paintings. The sheer diversity of
materials presents a comprehensive view of the artistic predilections
of communities and the patrons of the river valley. |
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Mentioning this sense of refinement
neglects the basic nature of the early rooms, which instead focus
on the antithesis of this type of materialism—the natural and
romanticized landscape. Before directly entering the exhibition, an
elegant Rococo Revival style dinner service (1843; private collection)
from the Jacob Petit Manufactory, Édouard Honoré Manufactory,
and Louis-Marie François Rihouet, is placed to the right of
the entrance and sets the stage for the sophistication of the art
of the region. It also serves as a reminder that these styles were
practical objects, part of the daily life of its residents who were
attaining a level of culture and artistic complexity rivaling other
parts of the United States. A sense of style and sophistication was
visible from the earliest phases of the exhibition. |
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After passing through the entrance,
visitors are welcomed by the mythologizer of the Mississippi, George
Caleb Bingham. His Raftsmen Playing Cards (1847; Saint Louis
Art Museum, fig. 2) portrays the Mississippi as it once had been;
young men floating along the mighty river in their rafts concentrate
only on their game of cards, a seemingly simplified existence devoid
of the pretense that accompanied the materialism of the later years.
This lifestyle along the river had ended; by the 1860s, this setting
had become history. The Bingham painting is surrounded by other key
players of the Mississippi region of the previous and current era
of the mid-nineteenth century. |
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Bingham's composition clearly brings
in an initial sense of nostalgia that is contrasted in the following
room. Entering the next gallery, "The Father of Waters,"
the viewer is struck by Ferdinand Richardt's View of the Mississippi
River (1857; Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul) which is
positioned in a sharp contrast with the Bingham's image of the disappearing
scene of the River. (fig. 3) The viewer is thrust into the present
era of the steamboat, the glory of which is portrayed in an overall
landscape that lacks the intimacy and approachability of Bingham's
composition. There is little other suggestion of life beyond that
of the great steamboat, symbolizing the fact that life on the River
had begun to change, ushering in a new era that would eventually affect
the artistic predilections of the entire Mississippi valley. Artists
struggled with how to depict a landscape in a glorified form while
dealing with the fact that this view was disappearing. It becomes
clear, however, that artists were often interested in combining modern
day machinery with idyllic riverscapes. Nevertheless, the juxtapositioning
of these works underscores the constantly changing landscape of the
Mississippi River valley during such a prolific period of transition.
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This aspect should not be overstated,
however, as on a whole this theme seeks to introduce the upper Mississippi
valley, and shows to what extent artists were inspired by the rugged
but picturesque landscape and how this was manifested in their work.
Paintings were complemented by historical maps and photographs from
the period, providing a fixture of reality in broad comparison to
that portrayed by the artistic ideal through paintings such as Bingham's
and Richardt's. The diversity of objects represented continues to
be a strong point throughout the exhibition, as it becomes a cultural
study as much as an artistic examination. Also presented are the different
aspects of the upper Mississippi valley including racial diversity
shown by Seth Eastman's set of six watercolors framing his Ballplay
of the Dakota on the St. Peter's River in Winter (1848; Amon Carter
Museum, Forth Worth, Texas) which introduces the Native American Indian.
An impressive large-scale composition, and one of the earliest known
portraits of a domestic animal, Charles Deas' Lion (1841; Minnesota
Historical Society, St. Paul), is a depiction of an Irish-Scottish
wolfhound alert on the prairie, with Native Americans appearing in
the distance which seems to be in the French "animalier"
tradition of Charles-Émile Jacque and Constant Troyon. Perpetuated
through these images is the notion, almost reminiscent of the mid-nineteenth
century attitude towards the upper Mississippi, that there was indeed
little in the north apart from an unsullied landscape. |
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By concentrating on shifts from the
upper to the middle and lower Mississippi valleys, the romanticized
version of the river landscape and its lack of industrialized pomp
is pushed aside in the transition into another segment. Instead of
the rough and rugged landscape of the north that inspired so many
artists' praises, burgeoning communities based on the iron, ore, cotton,
and sugar industries grew up along the river in the middle and lower
regions. By nature of the cultural and geographic area described herein,
works show the first strong presence of a French influence. Marie
Adrien Persac's Norman's Chart of the Lower Mississippi (1858;
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Persac, Jr.), a large engraving and
watercolor on paper, shows the nature of the changing river in the
lower Mississippi region, with the land plotted out in arpents, a
French-based land measurement unit. Residents were clearly taking
advantage of the river access, and this shows how populated the river
basin was. Large steamboats must have passed through many areas like
this during their passage along the river. An immense painting by
Hippolyte Sebron entitled Giant Steamboats at New Orleans (1853,
Tulane University, New Orleans; fig. 4) is framed by two porcelain
pieces evocative of the sophistication of the steamboat era, bringing
in the dual aspect of the steamboat, for both commerce and pleasure.
An overall comparison of this room with the previous gallery stressing
the upper Mississippi shows the shifting importance of different areas
of the valley, the north for its landscape and the middle and south
for its commerce and luxury, further highlighting the perceived basic
nature of the upper river valley. |
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The fourth segment of the exhibition
is a culmination of the previous sections, and shows how the Mississippi
was promoted through the traveling exhibitions of large-scale panoramas.
In addition to an inward movement of styles and culture along the
Mississippi River, there was an equally important outward dissemination
of images of the river which attracted both artists and tourists to
the area. The region became well known because of traveling panoramas
and also because of the reproduction of paintings by firms such as
Goupil & Cie, based in Paris but with a branch gallery in New
York, who reproduced Bingham's Raftsmen and disseminated it
to a Parisian audience. |
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On the periphery of the room are watercolors by
Edwin Whitefield and Henry Lewis, both artists who traveled the Mississippi;
Whitefield's work destined for a book of lithographs and Lewis' for
a panorama. Their efforts frame the main feature of this area, which
is an impressive seven-and-a-half foot high, 340-foot panorama by
John J. Egan entitled Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the
Mississippi Valley: Dr. Dickeson Excavating a Mound (c. 1850;
Saint Louis Art Museum, fig. 5) that has never before been displayed
since its initial showing during the 1800s. While only one part of
this panorama is shown, a computer in the gallery allows viewers to
see the entire panorama while scrolling on the computer screen. The
curators have presented just one scene, but it is a relevant choice,
showing exactly the broad panorama of peoples present in the River
valley, complete with a racial hierarchy specific to the era. This
racial hierarchy is subsequently challenged by a striking portrait
by Jules Lion entitled, Asher Moses David and Son (Achille)
(c. 1845, Collection of Ann and Jack Brittain and children) which
shows a white man standing next to his biracial son. Common during
this period were "free" black men and women, who had either
earned or been born into their freedom. This is the first of several
examples in the exhibition that show that blacks were seeking artistic
representations just as their white counterparts had. |
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| Fig.
6 Attributed to James Reid Lambdin, Delia, c. 1850. Oil
on canvas. Collection of Sarah Lawrence Bisland Oakes in honor
of the Bisland and Lambdin families. |
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| Fig.
7 Probably American, Henry Siebrecht (retailer), Hall stand
and chairs (partial set), c. 1858. Oak, Stanton Hall, Pilgrimage
Garden Club, Natchez, Mississippi, frames the entrance to the
following room "In the French Taste" |
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Continuing the racial panorama, entering
into the fifth gallery, one immediately sees a dignified portrait
of a black woman, entitled Delia (attributed to James Reid Lambdin
(c. 1850; Collection of Sarah Lawrence and Bisland Oakes in honor
of the Bisland and Lambdin families, fig. 6). In addition to linking
the two rooms, the portrait shows the accumulation of these types
of paintings as well as elaborate furniture and photographic portraits
for mass consumption. This thematic room, "Handsomely Furnished,"
presents a broad view of interior decorative elements ranging from
Saint Paul, Minnesota to New Orleans. This is the most domestic room
of the exhibition, examining the consumption of style and the necessity
of identification of personal artistic taste. This is the lifestyle
of the wealthy; with grandiose canopied beds, the love of self-glorification
through portraiture—all displayed in impressive mansions. Equally
apparent is the interest in revival style furniture, evidenced by
the gothic-revival (c. 1858; Stanton Hall, Pilgrimage Garden Club,
Natchez, Mississippi) and Elizabethan revival style chairs (fig. 7).
Clearly there were a number of artistic styles present along the river
valley. |
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The title of the sixth room, "In
the French Taste," comes as a bit of a surprise, since the objects
presented look strikingly similar to those in the rest of the exhibition.
Much of the work in the previous galleries has already been "in
the French taste," and again little textual analysis is provided
for the visitor. Many of the objects represented here are by French
artists, such as François Bernard, Charles Giroux, Hippolyte
Sebron, and Marie Adrien Persac among others, and not Americans. Perhaps
American artists working in this "French style" were too
few and far between, their work too difficult to procure. In establishing
a cultural identity, inclusion of solely French artists does little
to advance the inbred artistic culture of the Mississippi valley.
The relationship between the French and American artists is not explored
in extensive depth and further; this section may have been improved
by discussing the influx of French artists into New Orleans and up
to Prairie du Rocher in Illinois. What the exhibition tantalizingly
presents, the diffusion and creation of a French taste, is left unexplored
in detail. |
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| Fig.
8 Francois Bernard, Mrs. James Belton Pickett, née
Pauline de Graffenried, and Sallie Pickett (Mrs. Robert Cummings),
1858. Oil on canvas. Historic New Orleans Collection, framed
by two candelabra bases, attributed to Jacob Petit, c. 1845.
Porcelain with enamel decoration and gilding. New Orleans Museum
of Art. |
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| Fig.
9 Asher B. Durand, Afternoon, 1847. Oil on canvas. Mead
Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. |
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| Fig.
10 Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Hiawatha, 1874. Marble. Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York. |
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Upon entering this gallery, a portrait,
Mrs. James Belton Pickett, nee Paulina de Graffenried, and Sallie
Pickett (Mrs. Robert Cummings) by Francois Bernard (1858; Historic
New Orleans Collection) is framed by French rococo revival style candelabra
bases attributed to Jacob Petit, showing the French interest in chinoiserie
(c. 1845; New Orleans Museum of Art)(fig. 8). The portrait is highly
reminiscent of the works of Jean-Dominique Ingres in its modeling
of the figures' hands and heads and the overall positioning. Also
included in this room is a section dedicated to artistic patronage,
public exhibitions, and the establishment of art schools and museums
along the Mississippi. Two landscape paintings by Asher B. Durand
(1847; Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts) link
the two themes of French influence and artistic patronage together,
bringing in a landscape suggested by French landscape imagery, but
admitting qualities that were also taken on by an American artist
and commissioned by American patrons (fig. 9). |
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Concluding the exhibition is an entire
section devoted to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an especially
important inclusion for the Minneapolis audience since his 1855 Song
of the Hiawatha is based on Minnehaha Falls, located in what is
now south Minneapolis. Longfellow had never been to the Mississippi
valley, instead relying on secondary sources for poetic inspiration,
such as the traveling panorama. The exhibition is based around Evangeline,
published in 1847 and The Song of the Hiawatha, and features
prints and paintings which were based on Longfellow's work. A significant
work is the large-scale sculpture of Hiawatha by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
(1874; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; fig. 10) which dominates
the last gallery, demonstrating that this mythic Indian was a towering
presence in American culture at the close of the century and a vital
symbol for the region itself. |
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Aside from a few questionable object
placements, "Currents of Change" is an eye-opening exhibition
that reveals the art from across the Mississippi valley, equally illustrating
the life, customs and the artistic propensities of the region. The
curators selected a diverse range of material that suggested the growing
cultural sophistication of the river valley. Some themes emerge throughout
the entirety of the exhibition, including the tension between artists
who want to preserve the idyllic and untouched nature of the landscape
and those who want to highlight the changing nature of the river valley
in its push towards industrialization, almost foreshadowing the struggles
of the mid-to-late nineteenth-century French artists active in Europe.
It also becomes clear that artists were equally interested in conveying
the positive changes that were being made. Bustling ports, sawmills
of the upper Midwest, and especially the changes that took place at
St. Anthony Falls were integrated into the natural environment with
a sense of respect for progress and development. Simply because many
artists tried to preserve the past through their palettes does not
necessarily imply that other artists were resentful of the changes
along the river; such an interpretation presupposes a contemporary
understanding of the negative impact of historical development on
the Mississippi Valley environment. |
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A second aspect brought forth by the
exhibition was that of diversification, speaking to racial and cultural
diversity as well as commercial and topographical implications. Historically
the Mississippi region, especially in the north, was a common meeting
place where the French, American Indians, Americans, and Canadians
would gather to trade goods. Throughout the region immigration brought
in new people who brought their own styles, whether from Germany,
Ireland, Scandinavia, or elsewhere. Further south, racial divisions
and slavery practices were in question. Art began to further encompass
these racial profiles and, referenced by this exhibition, saw both
American Indians and African Americans seeking the same level of artistic
patronage, such as in the portrait of Delia and the Jules Lion
portrait of Ashur Moses Nathan and his son Achille, but also, daguerreotypes
such as those executed by Thomas Easterly for Robert Wilkinson (c.
1860, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis), Keokuk, (1847; Missouri
Historical Society, St. Louis) and another, of an unidentified woman
shown seated with coiffed hair and elegant clothing (c. 1850; Missouri
Historical Society, St. Louis). Beyond racial diversification, the
variety of the landscape was certainly present, and in this, an implied
diversification in the arts as well. The commerce of the middle and
lower river valleys engendered a certain style of elegant and refined
luxuriousness, whereas the landscape of the north was heralded because
of the advances of industry. There seems to be a clear shift from
the upper to middle and lower Mississippi valleys; a shift towards
a glamorous lifestyle evidenced by paintings of great estates, portraits,
garden plans in the English picturesque tradition, public gathering
spaces, and established real estate systems. Moreover, what this exhibition
does exceedingly well is to reconstruct the visual nuances of these
traditions against the various locations in the river valley. Still,
throughout several of the rooms there seems to be insufficient distinction
to fully grasp this potential diversity. |
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The French element of the arts is
also a consistent theme in the exhibition, but at the same time, too
little information is provided for the viewer to fully contextualize
this and to gauge its importance for both the inhabitants and the
French artists who were working in this area. Scattered throughout
the exhibition are French-design-inspired objects. Considering that
the catalogue and the exhibition discuss the sense of establishing
an identity for those communities of the Mississippi valley, it is
interesting that the French influence was not more fully developed
since it was key in the development and perpetuation of a stylistic
image for the region. Granted, this show was not meant to be solely
about the French influence in the Mississippi Valley, but many of
the items chosen suggest such a heavy French influence, that it remains
an important component throughout the region during the period the
show covers. |
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All of these aspects work together
to forge a national identity for the Mississippi valley. Consistently
overarching each of these themes is the importance of the steamboats
moving along the River. This is less a theme than it is a goal of
the show—to suggest that through transportation of objects from
one city to another, traveling artists and shops aboard the luxurious
cruisers, and by the simple possibility of moving objects along the
river, the steamboat encouraged the transportation of wealth and style.
In examining the presented works, viewers can gauge for themselves
just what the identity of the mid-nineteenth century Mississippi valley
was and how it was established and promoted. But it is a question
of just how well the viewer, if they were to make their own assumptions,
would differentiate between the rooms and the themes present therein.
While they are geographically and thematically concise, many objects
display such similarity that their differences are questionable. On
the one hand this may suggest that along the river valley there was
a similarity of styles, but the general organization of the show and
selection of objects would not seem to have that as a primary goal.
Outside of viewer interpretation, a key question remains: Where would
the arts have been without the Mississippi and the steamboat as a
method for their transmission? Once one answers this, one understands
the overarching importance of the exhibition in illuminating the art
and culture of a region seldom studied in such depth. While questions
of interpretation remain, we owe the organizers a debt of gratitude
for tackling such a complicated era and presenting the diverse themes
with a sense of maturity and sensitive comprehension. |
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Lynsi Spaulding
University of Minnesota
lynsis@umn.edu |
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