The subject of a recently opened exhibition at the National Gallery of Art is the work of painter George de Forest Brush. As shows go, this is one is only focused on his paintings of Native Americans and takes up all of two galleries.
The works, set in the larger body of American Western art from the ouvre of artists like Frederick Remington and Henry Farny, would seem to beg comparison; however, truer comparisons can be made to the works of Brush's teacher in Paris, Jean-Léon Gérôme, as well as, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. For his paintings don't reach for Native Americans as rough and ready outdoorsman and warriors or as poverty besot victims. Brush decided to paint them as monumental figures. He sought to elevate them to mythical status.
In doing so, his paintings conjur up images of ancient civilizations like Greece and Egypt. His use of the subject was also his attempt to set himself apart from other artists, to capture a niche. The attempt failed or at least ran out of steam after little more than a decade; and well, except for this show, how many people have ever even heard of him?
On a viceral level, the paintings work best when they depict moments of solitude and reflection. Yet, by and large, they do not succeed. They present to the viewer a hyper-stylized fiction. The artist himself left his visit to a reservation in Wyoming depressed and disgusted by what he saw. And rather than portray reality, he opted to retreat into a fantasy that rather than elevating Native Americans acts as an indictment against their actual humanity.
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