Indians in Art: Gertrude Kasebier

The portrayal of Native Americans in the arts and media is fraught with controversy and contradiction. It's a disputed territory where art, stereotype, politics, and propaganda intersect. It's hard to think of another artistic genre where the subject can so easily be glorified and demeaned at the same time. And because of the checkered past of the modern Native American experience, sometimes the line between the two can be disturbingly fine.

On the subject I thought it would be interesting to compare the work of a near-contemporary of Edward Curtis - Gertrude Kasebier, an American photographer who made Indians a major part of her portfolio. She compiled a striking photographic collection - some documentary, others very personal and intense - that essentially showed how the Native American fit into her world.

What makes Kasebier's Indian portraits different from those of her contemporaries? And what bearing did the fact that she was a woman trying to make a career in a male-dominated society have on her portfolio?

Boston.com "Big Picture"
Photo Essays

The website Boston.com has a department called "The Big Picture"with some great photo collections from recent news stories, some of which highlight some really amazing nature photography.

Sample a photo journal from an expedition to Africa's largest lava lake, a slideshow of a Chilean volcano's spectacular electric display - and top it off with a gallery of photos from the recent solar storm.

This Month in History:

---

June 11, 1776:
English painter John Constable is born

Constable found himself wedged between two artistic worlds - the formal, elaborate Classical style that relished the ancient and remote; and the new Romantic school that sought to sublimate nature into something at once mystical and intimately personal.

Somewhere between the two camps was forged a fusion of tradition and innovation that made Constable perhaps Britain's greatest landscape artist.

June 12, 1616:
Pocahontas arrives in England

On this day in history, Pocahontas, her husband John Rolfe, and their infant son Thomas arrived at the port of Plymouth, England.

Pocahontas was received at the court of King James with all the pomp of a visiting dignitary, and her presence was widely acclaimed throughout London. But what was the motivation behind their voyage?

June 18, 1868:
Return from the Navajo "Long Walk" begins

The Long Walk was part of a removal program similar to the Trail of Tears. Beginning in 1864, Navajo people from across Arizona were led by army troops and Western legend Kit Carson on a forced march to the Bosque Redondo internment camp in New Mexico.

The relocation project was a fiasco that ultimately cost thousands of Navajo lives. But the return journey to Dine-tah was a welcome, if bittersweet, triumph for the dispersed Navajo nation.