American Progress is an 1872 painting by John Gast, a Prussian-born painter, printer, and lithographer who lived and worked most of his life during 1870's Brooklyn, New York. American Progress, an allegory of Manifest Destiny, was widely disseminated in chromolithographic prints. It is now held by the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, California.[1]

American Progress
Artist	John Gast
Year	1872 (1872)
Medium	Oil on canvas
Subject	Manifest destiny
Dimensions	11 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in. (29.2 cm x 40 cm)
Location	Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California
Owner	Autry Museum of the American West
Accession	92.126.1
Website	Exhibit website

Description

American Progress has become a seminal example of American Western art. The painting serves as an allegory for Manifest Destiny and American westward expansion. The 11.50 by 15.75 inches (29.2 cm × 40.0 cm) painting was commissioned in 1872 by George Crofutt, a publisher of American Western travel guides, and has since been frequently reproduced. The woman in the center is Columbia, the personification of the United States, and on her head is what Crofutt calls "The Star of the Empire." Columbia moves from the light-skied east to the dark and treacherous West, leading settlers who follow her either on foot or by stagecoach, horseback, Conestoga wagon, wagon train, or riding steam trains.[2] Progress lays a telegraph wire with one hand and carries a school book in the other. On the right side of the painting, in the East, New York City can be seen in the background, while farmers that have already settled in the Midwest are featured in the foreground. As Lady Columbia moves westward, indigenous people and a herd of buffalo flee from her and the settlers who follow.[3]

American Progress depicts the process of American westward expansion and the mindset of supporters of "manifest destiny". The figure of Columbia, representing America, is portrayed as the harbinger of modernization, development, and "civilization", while the pre-colonial West is portrayed as a dark and savage place compared to the technologically advanced East. Although westward expansion did create jobs and economic opportunity, as this painting promises, it also drove many indigenous people from their ancestral homes and led to thousands of deaths during forced relocations.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Essay on Spirit of the frontier by historian Martha A. Sandweiss of Amherst College Includes high resolution version of the painting
• The Library of Congress -

• Works by Gast from the Department of Drawings and Prints

• Entry in Goulding's New York City directory (1877), listing him as GAST JOHN, artist & lithographer, 39 Park pl. h B'klyn
• Short biography, list of references, and examples of work on askart.com

• Works by Gast in the general Catalog
• New approved method of zinc etching or photo-zinc-engraving (1886), by Gast

• Beyond "American Progress": The Legacy of John Gast by Samantha Rothenberg

На других языках

[fr] American Progress

[it] Progresso Americano