- Object Name
- Maker
- Title
Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way - Near Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Date
1867
- Materials
Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
25 1/2 in x 46 in (64.7 cm x 116.8 cm)
- Credit Line
Museum purchase
- Object ID
92.147.1
-
- Institution
Autry Museum of the American West
-
- Category
Art and Artifacts
- Remarks
Painting by Andrew Melrose, Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way - Near Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1867. Signed bottom right. European-Americans of the late nineteenth century saw themselves as living in a fundamentally transformative time; change was a major theme of art that depicted frontier settlement as a process of nation building. Progress entailed loss as well as gain, shown here by tree stumps where the wilderness once stood. Melrose painted this picture in celebration of the railroad’s arrival in Council Bluffs, suggesting this was a small price to pay for the coming of civilization. In Andrew Melrose’s painting, the wilderness on the right side of the image is transformed into a pioneer homestead, as the darkness gives way to the rosy dawn of a new day. Fueling this process is the engine, its headlamp burning bright as it leads the way for future settlers.
- Subject
- Publication
The American nation a history of the United States to 1877 / John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes. pages 350-351
Art at the Autry Museum by Amy Scott. page 70
West-fever Brian W. Dippie ; introduction by James H. Nottage. pages 78-79
The American nation a history of the United States to 1877 / John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes. pages 320-321
The log cabin an illustrated history / Andrew Belonsky. page 17
This radical land a natural history of American dissent / Daegan Miller. page 142
- Location
GP.Gallery Parks