John Mix StanleyAmerican, 1814–1872Osage Scalp Dance
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “Osage Scalp Dance” now? Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Unknown.
Washington, D.C., United States
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Melodramatic tales of scalping were popular in Europe and the United States throughout the nineteenth century. John Mix Stanley’s operatic scene shows a villain wielding a war club over a desperate woman's head. A hero who wears a presidential peace medal blocks the club with his spear. By the time Stanley painted this canvas, the government had already begun to subdue native peoples by relocating tribes and fostering warfare among them. This "divide and conquer" policy, together with thrilling narratives of white captives carried off to slavery, helped ease the consciences of European Americans making their way across the continent. Stanley based this fictional image on sketches he made while traveling through the frontier territories in 1842 and 1843.
Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Details
- Accession number
- 1985.66.248,930
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Image: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0
