The American West: The Image in History

3 units

Examines representations of the American West and of the frontier encounter between Euro- and Native American cultures, from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. We will consider travel accounts, fiction painting, ledger drawings, photography, and film in order to analyze the ways in which historical circumstances have shaped artistic and literary representations. At the same time, we will look at how images and texts have shaped formative myths about the West that in turn leave their impact on history.