Recently, I was in Denver, Colorado for a wedding and had the opportunity to visit two museums with radically different ideological projects: The Black American West Museum and the Denver Art Museum. It was interesting to have the opportunity to view these museums both on the same day and also with a group of lay people (my family), who had never thought about the role of museums in constructing a particular sense of history.
The Black American West Museum was founded in 1971 by Paul Wilbur Stewart, and developed out of his personal mission to uncover the history of black cowboys. He began simply by speaking to patrons at his Denver barbershop, who began to bring him memorabilia and family photos, which he kept on display. Once his collection out grew his barbershop, he established the museum by fusing his project with the project of commemorating the life of the first African-American female physician licensed in Colorado, Dr. Justina Ford.
The project of memorializing Dr. Ford's life focused on preserving her home, medical tools, photographs, diplomas and awards. Later, these projects fused with a third project of remembering the town of Dearfield, which was an independent black farming community comprised of freed slaves and their ancestors. The current museum combines all three projects, using different techniques of display and representation.
The most striking aspect of the Black American West Museum was the obvious difficulty they have had in reconstructing or filling in historical gaps. The main goal of the project seems to be to let visitors know that there is a history of African-Americans in the West. The Dearfield project is presented through a 35 minute documentary video, which uses interviews of ancestors, generic archival materials, and reenactments to construct a visual history of the lives of pioneers during this time. Interestingly, I do not recall any interviews with scholars, who have studied this period, in spite of the fact that the museum is associated with the Blair Caldwell African-American Research Library.
Much of the other materials in the museum are photographs, which are not preserved originals, but rather framed digital replicas. It seemed that almost nothing had survived from Dearfield (or the other 15 black settlements in the West) or was not in the collection of the museum. The only real "remnant" of this past was the documentary, which by combined archival footage with reenactments, calling into question the relationship between historical record and memory - particularly the construction of filmic memory, which scholars have observed as something specific and distinct from other forms of media, such as photographs. The reenactments in the film are shot with a dreamy quality that typically symbolizes memory. The history of black cowboys has been commemorated by Hollywood "walk of fame" styled images on the walkway leading to the museum. Interestingly, inside the museum the material records are generic. In other words, cowboy boots from the period and buffalo fur coats are presented, but only as representative of what a black cowboy (or any other cowboy) would have worn at the time, and not who they belonged to.
For me, this highlighted the loss of historical record, which seems to be a predominant issue in constructing counter hegemonic historical/cultural records or memories. Another way of looking at this might be as breaks in narrative that prevent a cohesive story from being told – especially in particular forms. In other words, the documentary form seems to allow a construction of memory through reenactment that the museum form of collecting material culture does not. I would venture a guess that the museum staff has at minimum intuitively worked through this issue, because visitors are encouraged to first watch the video and then view the collection.
If there was any lack of clarity of the need for the collection of projects that comprise the Black American West Museum, a trip to the Denver Art Museum Western American collection presents such a stark contrast that the need for this counter recollection becomes undeniable.
The Denver Art Museum (DAM) presents what feels like a comprehensive and cohesive vision of the American West over several floors that includes fine art and material culture. Unfortunately, I did not have as much time to spend as I would have liked, but I do not believe that I saw a single representation of any African-American in the West. In fact, in their own text the museum clearly states that “art both shapes and reflects our vision of the West” with cowboys and Indians “dominating our perception of who is western.” The viewer is encouraged to make note of “the people who are missing.” Unfortunately, this is not really a satisfying solution to the problem of “the missing", since it simply reaffirms the hegemonic vision. Furthermore, given the difficulties of the Black American West Museum in terms of both acquiring representations and financing the project beyond an all volunteer staff, it seems to me that the role a major institution such as DAM needs to play is greater than encouraging the viewer to attempt to envision the “missing”. Of course, recalling that numerous freed slaves escaped the South by seeking freedom in the West, also recalls an opposite American history that the West stands against.
Also, incorporated into the “some things to think about” placard in the painting gallery is a statement explaining that all of the artists are “anglo”, and that they may have imposed their own ideas of “Indianness” on their subjects. In fact, if you walk the gallery in the natural direction, entering on one side and leaving on the opposite side, you find that all of the images of native Americans are at the end, and they are all portraits whereby the subjects are portrayed in classic seated fashion and thus, not represented in engagement with the natural world. Many of the other paintings are quite striking in their portrayals of cowboys at work in the natural environment of the West (i.e. big sky and mountain ranges in the background, lassoing in the foreground.) The handful of Native American images are not a central part of the collection, appear as an afterthought, and are positioned such that the visitor would quickly pass by them.
Other galleries do represent some fine Native American crafts such as jewelry and clothing.
Nearly 100% of the Native American self-portrayal is represented as craft. In a couple of later works by Anglo artists that focus on the gold rush era, Native Americans do appear, and are represented as a force opposing the influx of white Americans.
(N.B. Although visitors are allowed to photograph artwork at DAM, one may not use a flash. Thus, the quality of the images below is not the best.)
Gold Rush II by Dean Cornwell 1926
The Stagecoach by Norman Rockwell 1966
In the Enemy’s Country by Charles Marion Russell 1921
The most striking image of Native American’s at DAM is a portrayal of an “O-kee-pa” ceremony.
The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony by George Catlin 1832
The image is preceded by a lengthy display explaining the reasons the artwork is controversial. The viewer is encouraged to remove boxes from an interactive display that consider why the painting is important, whether the artist was “sympathetic” or “prejudiced”, or if the work is racist.
The question of how this work engages with the rest of the museum’s portrayal of Native American’s is not asked. Is it possible that in a different context, the work would be viewed less controversially? As a single image of Native Americans interacting within their own tribal environment, the portrayal seems more about shock value. It happened that I approached the work as a mother with two young children was explaining to them that the people in the picture were alive. The concern was mostly focused on how could a person be hung in this way. I, too, found that I was mainly focused on this aspect of the painting. Of course, this depiction of this ceremony lends toward the stereotype of Native Americans as brutal. It strikes me that the opposition to the display probably forced a somewhat distracting interactive display to justify its inclusion in the museum. If I’m not mistaken, this was one of the earliest works on display in this gallery, also calling into question the work’s relation to the whole. And, by treating this artwork, as singular and unrelated to the rest of the museum, the interactive display simply reinforces the isolation of Native Americans from the main thread of the narrative of the American West. In other words, this is work is just a subplot, not really apart of the main story.
Although most of the collection is not contemporary, there are a handful of contemporary works by Native American artists.
Trade Canoe for Don Quixote 2004 by Juane Quick-to-See Smith
The interactive display details the meanings of the objects in the canoe, and reference to Picasso’s Guernica.
Voices at Wounded Knee, Series #2 by Mateo Romero
These works stand in obvious contrast to the other portrayals of Native Americans, which are either absent or as a force in opposition to Anglos. Still, these works are in a separate and dark gallery, where they are strangely displayed alongside various crafts.
Ultimately, DAM merely reinforces the idea of cowboys opposed by Indians, with cowboys as a homogenous “Anglo” hoard of rugged pioneers and heroic settlers, and with Indians as exotic, brutal, separate and incidental. Their expansive collection of Western American art does not contain a single image or narrative thread that seeks to incorporate or represent any thing other than the hegemonic vision of this period in history. No attempt is made to broaded the visitors understanding of this era.
The Black American West Museum stands in stark contrast to the Denver Art Museum. Although, it’s featured in major guide books, its hours are limited, the collection sparse, the archives deep and unexplored, and its staff all volunteer. While presenting a counter history, they are unable to incorporate the story of African-Americans in the West into the larger narrative of American history. Ultimately, they end up creating a space for an important and forgotten subplot, but fail to present a challenge to the narrative of American expansion in the West.
Disclaimer: These are only my initial thoughts, so there are probably inaccuracies and undeveloped ideas; I reserve the right to change my mind or correct myself in the future!
