George Catlin and the Art of Ideology

Lecture and discussion

As hard as the mid-nineteenth century painter, author and explorer George Catlin worked to challenge the violence of “manifest destiny” and “Indian Removal,” his unexamined assumptions throughout his work accepted the dangerous view that Native Americans were “destined to vanish” promoted by the very dominant regimes Catlin hoped to challenge. John Hausdoerffer explores the contradictoriness of art in the face of political power and violence.

John Hausdoerffer, Western Colorado University, USA
Moderation: David Quigley, Merz Akademie, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart