Sunday, April 3, 2016

John Mix Stanley at the Tacoma Art Museum

The Tacoma Art Museum has an exhibit of painting by John Mix Stanley: http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/exhibit/painted-journeys-art-john-mix-stanley/details/

The exhibit started on January 30 and runs to May 1. His collection of over 150 western paintings was housed at the Smithsonian in Washington DC from 1852 through 1865. Alas that collection was nearly completely destroyed by fire. The exhibit in Tacoma has been previously in Cody and Tulsa. This is a rare chance to see a compilation of his works.

 John Mix Stanley is my favorite 19th century painter of the U.S. west. I posted about him previously (john-mix-stanley-in-oregon-country). He was considered the best western painter of his day, particularly his paintings of western Indians. He also produced drawings of scenes of the Pacific Northwest along the potential routes of the future railroads as he was part of the survey explorations. His work had a profound influence on Washington DC policy makers regarding the Pacific Northwest, the West and western American Indians in that it provided accurate visualization of a landscape and people far removed from most Americans at the time. 

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