John Mix Stanley

Blackfeet Playing Cards

John Mix Stanley was born on January 17, 1814 in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Stanley begun painting when he was a young man. In 1842, Stanley traveled to the west to paint Native American life. Because of his travelling, Stanley became a explorer as well as an artist. For almost a decade, John Mix Stanley painted Native subjects and landscapes. On 1865, many of his paintings were destroyed by a fire. Stanley would spent the rest of his life repainting the lost works, organizing exhibitions and reproductions. Of Stanley's many painting, the six our group choose to represent Stanley's interpretations of Native American culture were the following: “Osage Scalp Dance¨,¨Blackfeet Playing Cards¨, "The Deerslayer", "On the Warpath", "Last of their Race", and "Black Knife, an ApacheWarrior".

The Deerslayer

Osage Scalp Dance

In "The Deerslayer", Stanley depicts two natives wearing traditional clothing dragging a recently hunted deer through a rocky landscape. A waterfall and trees can be seen at the distance near the shore of a little spring. A feeling of danger and adventure can be felt because of the furtive, sly actions being doing.

Overall, Stanley is respectful toward Native American culture. The viewer can tell from the mood of the paintings and how he repeatedly tried to show and teach individuals about the Native American culture, even though he possessed beliefs that would be considered racist today, like in his work Osage Scalp Dance, which portrays a fictional encounter of Indian vs Savage. In the one painting “Osage Scalp Dance”, Stanley depicts negative perception of the Native Americans being “savages”, but also shows them being peaceful or ¨civilized¨ by one tribe member with a presidential medal holding back the other natives from hurting the white woman and her child. In "Blackfeet Playing Cards", Blackfeet natives are sitting on a flat rock play a game of cards in the foreground.In the background a camp with tents can be seen on the green landscape besides a river with mountains. This work of Stanley depicts two natives wearing traditional clothing dragging a recently hunted deer through a rocky landscape. A waterfall and trees can be seen at the distance near the shore of a little spring. A feeling of danger and adventure can be felt because of the furtive, sly actions being doing.

On the Warpath

A long line of battle-ready Native Americans are walking or riding horses, they are armed with bows, arrows or spears. They travel through a rocky mountain path, vegetation growing on the sides. An aura of power and serenity seems to flow from the center of the work.

Last of Their Kind

In a symbolic sunset, five natives near the shore of a big body of water sit on the top of a rock with animal skulls at the left side in the shade, everybody doing their own thing. The native in the middle stares with a expression of both sadness and calm to an unidentified point, outside the painting. Further away in the background two adult natives and little child hug together near a white horse.