Mount Hood from The Dalles

Description

John Mix Stanley, a painter and a trained photographer, accompanied several expeditions to the American frontier. He painted this view of Mount Hood in the Oregon territory from memory with the aid of sketches and photographs. Stanley viewed himself as an anthropologist recording threatened peoples and cultures and was best known for his representations of Indigenous people. Here he includes an encampment of Indigenous people in the painting’s middle ground, but his intentions in documenting Indigenous life were complicated. Stanley created traveling shows and “Indian” panoramas that perpetuated stereotypes and catered to an audience largely supportive of policies that caused the wholesale decimation of Indigenous communities. Whether it was intentional or not, Stanley’s work reinforced the idea that the United States was destined to “civilize” Indigenous people and justified westward expansion.