Using the painting, "America Progress" by John Gast, analyze two scenes that demonstrate ideas about Westward Expansion. Explain the people in the scene, lighting, and describe what motivations these people may have for moving west.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
22 comments:
The painting by John Gast has many different perspectives. The angel represents that it was Gods destiny to have westward expansion. The angel is holding a school book and a telegraph cord. I think the picture represents all kinds of cultures moving to the west. There are coal miners, Native Americans, and colonist.
Two scenes that demonstrate ideas about westward expansions are the Native Americans and buffalo and the ocean. In the first scene I mentioned, the Native Americans and the buffalo are fleeing from the pioneers that had invaded their land. Also, the lighting in this scene is kind of bright but also dark. Bright in the sense that the sun is shining down on the Native Americans and dark in the sense that the Native Americans have to flee from the land they are living on so that the pioneers can move there. In the second scene I mentioned, it shows the Pacific Ocean which borders western United States. Also, the lighting in this region of the painting is kind of dark and mysterious.
Two scenes which depict westward expansion are the Native Americans being chased west by Americans and the farmers with a plow moving west. The west in the picture is darker than the east because it is unexplored and unknown to most Americans. The Americans may be going west for more farmland or money. The California Gold Rush brought a lot of American miners to the west and they brought their families with them. Maybe some people were moving to the west because there were too many people in the east.
There is a man carrying a tool in his right arm that looks like a shovel and that could symbolize a 49er going to dig for gold during the California Gold Rush. The stage coach could also be a symbol of westward expansion because stage coaches were usually used for transportation and the man using the horse for transportation could symbolize the pony express.
Two scenes that demonstrate ideas about Westward Expansion are, in the far left of the painting, there are buffalo, and these buffalo are running. What are the buffalo running from? The buffalo are running from the American citizens who are coming into the land where the buffalo once did roam. Once the Americans got to the unexplored land they killed the buffalo and had many different uses for them. One, the meat from the buffalo were used as food, and two, the buffalo skin helped make clothing. Another scene from “American Progress” is the two men in the bottom left corner. The men are plowing the land, because many Americans traveled west to farm, or to get even larger farms than they had in the east. The angel is carrying a school book, and stringing a telegraph wire as she watches over the American citizens as they go into this unexplored territory. The lighting in the painting is bright and full of sunshine in the east, but in the west it’s dark, cloudy, and stormy. In the east, we know that land, it has been explored. In the west the citizens know nothing about the land, and who lives there. All of these people in the painting have many different reasons for going, for farming, to mine, and even to start over.
American Progress is a painting by John Gast showing American progress. There are many scenes in it showing ideas about Westward Expansion. There are different types of people in the scene. People of the scene include Indians running west. This represents Native Americans being run off of their land and on to a reservation. Others include men traveling west carrying tools to mine for gold which they were going for in California. More men are shown with tools that represent agriculture. These men were looking for more land to farm on in the West. The woman in the picture is most likely an angel representing the expansion of land a gift from God. She is extending a wire probably for telegraphs. She is also holding a school book symbolizing the importance of education during this time. The lighting shows dark clouds towards the west. This means people going out west saw the west as darkness, not knowing what was out there or what they might come across. The east is bright because this is where the people came from. They are more experienced to the eastern land.
Two scenes that demonstrate ideas about westward expansion are; the darkness in the painting and the angel holding the school book/bible. The darkness represents the undiscovered qualities of the west, and how it may even be frightening to explore. People would want to explore this dark unknown region to make their lives better by starting over in a new place or, they would want to settle in this land to escape religious persecution such as the Mormons. The angel holding the book represents bringing the knowledge of the west to the US, and expanding the nation through education. People would want to learn about the west because there may be medicines there that would cure and/or prevent diseases. They would also want to spread education or religion to this land. The Catholics spread Christianity to the natives so they would be more involved in the society.
• Two scenes in the picture of American Progress are where the buffalo are running away from the humans. These animals are running more West is because many Americans are over killing them and they want to get away from them. So the more they stampede westward, the humans are right there behind them. Another scene in the picture of American Progress is stagecoach beneath the angel carrying many supplies and humans along with it. These people are looking for a new life beyond the Appalachian Mountains that isn’t so crowded or dirty. Since these people are looking at unexplored land, the lighting on the left side of the picture is a lot darker and more disturbing because these people don’t know what could happen of this westward expansion, but on the right side of the picture is the eastern part and since it’s been explored its much sunnier.
Painting Analysis- In this painting, “America Progress” by John Gast, the painting tells a story about Westward Expansion. The painting shows many different scenarios, such as, Farmers. In the painting there are people with what looks like some type of plow, plowing there gardens; the clues seem as if they wanted to travel westward for better lands and conditions to farm. Another looks as if a group of people. Most likely a family traveling in a horse drawn wagon, there is a possibility they are moving west to start a new life.
One scene in the picture, American Progress is that the Indians are fleeing in past the Americans because the Americans are moving in on their land and forcing them to move west. Another scene in this painting is that the west of the painting is darker than the east. I think this means that the painter is trying to show that moving west can be dark, scary, and that the land has never been thoroughly explored. I think the east of the painting is brighter because it is a common place and people know what to expect when they arrive.
In America around the 1800’s there is this ideal that Americans are the almighty chosen ones by God and it’s their “destiny” to travel west. The travelers are supposedly traveling for different reasons. For example the four men with mining equipment are most likely traveling west in hopes of striking it rich in gold, the two individuals in the bottom right hand corner look as if they’re plowing the field with assistance from oxen perhaps they’re farmers looking for better/bigger farmland, and the wagon looks like settlers are looking for the land for reasons maybe concerning the right to vote, get out of debt, or just to start life a new.
In the painting “American Progress” the scene looks like a progressive timeline. In the beginning there are Native Americans and buffalo moving westward. A little after them are some settlers with horses and carriages. Also along side them are some minors and farmers. Behind them there are trains and telegraph lines. Finally the last thing on the painting is a river with boats floating through it. The paining is mostly bright but a little dark in places. This painting could motivate somebody by telling themselves to keep moving forward and to think of new ideas.
The angel type figure with a book represents that it was Gods will for the americans to move west. The east side of the picture is sunny but the west side is dark and mysterious. The east side is sunny because it has been explored and settled, the west side is unexplored. There are also trains headed west, and the colonists there with them.
The merchants in this picture, in my opinion are the people with the hats; they would be motivated to move west for markets, and business. The farmers with the cow, could be motivated to move west because of farming.
The people in the painting are moving west as you can see half of the painting is dark and half is sunny. The dark side is dark because, the land that has not been adventured by the people before so everything is new to them. The sunny side of it is sunny because it has already been discovered and the people are familiar with this part of the land. Another scene in the painting is the Indians running away, they are running away because the white people are taking over there land.
The people in the painting are moving west as you can see half of the painting is dark and half is sunny. The dark side is dark because, the land that has not been adventured by the people before so everything is new to them. The sunny side of it is sunny because it has already been discovered and the people are familiar with this part of the land. Another scene in the painting is the Indians running away, they are running away because the white people are taking over there land.
The Indians are fleeing westward because of the pioneers were taking there land. In the corner are trapperstrapping something or someone in a corner. Yes, it made the Indians flee and there villages free for open to new settlers that needed a home for a while or they would expand the village into a town.
The man on the horse is walking with three other people traveling west because it was thought to be ordained by God. These people resemble the appearance as farmers; maybe they want more farming land. Another scene is of the Native Americans with their horses and dog fleeing from their land toward the west.
The man on the horse is walking with three other people traveling west because it was thought to be ordained by God. These people resemble the appearance as farmers; maybe they want more farming land. Another scene is of the Native Americans with their horses and dog fleeing from their land toward the west.
One scene that demonstrates an idea about westward expansion is the sky that shows light and dark. The darkness represents the undiscovered problems in the west. The light represents what they had already discovered. Another scene that demonstrates an idea about westward expansion is the farmers, miners, and merchants. These people are traveling westward. Farmers are searching for more land to grow more crops, miners are searching for gold and other kinds of ores, and merchants are trying to search for food and markets to sell their food and other goods.
The Westward Expansion spread democracy by moving the Indians to reservations. This opened up more room for immigrants to come in and settle down and learn our culture and democracy. The achieved their ideas from spreading the American ideas Westward because more immigrants move to America the strong that our country gets
Two scenes in the painting that demonstrate Westward Expansion are the angel leading us and putting down the telephone poles and the Indians leaving their land as Americans move westward. These scenes show ideas of Westward Expansion because people thought that it was God’s plan for us to come to America. The second scene of the Indians leaving their land shows that we were supposed to be here and that we could move others off their land because it was our destiny, not theirs. There are many people in the scene. Some are farmers moving west, looking for new land to farm. There are also miners that are going to find gold and other precious metals. There is also a man on a horse that is part of the Pony Express. You can also see people in trains, which symbolize the Industrial Revolution. Plus the lighting is also important. The lighting is dark on the west, because we didn’t know much about the west. But on the east you can see a lot of light coming from the angel, which to me means that the angel is showing us what we need to know. The motivation for moving west was that people thought it was God’s plan for us.
Post a Comment