Lot Essay
Although best remembered for his colorful and animated scenes of Indian life, John Mix Stanley also executed important documentary and topographical landscapes for federally sponsored projects. Before producing the works for Isaac Steven's railroad surveys in 1859, Stanley undertook an equally important challenge to complete a series of images to illustrate Lieutenant W.H. Emory's Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California which recorded the findings of General Stephen W. Kearny's expedition in 1846 to bring California under the American flag.
Mouth of Night Creek is one of twenty-seven works that were reproduced in Emory's topographical account. Although the expedition was at most times treacherous and unyeilding, resulting "in one of the most tattered and ill-fed detachments of men the United States ever mustered under her colors" (J. Provence, p. 2), it was necessary for Stanley to create images that would not prevent further expansion and settlement. As Dr. Schimmel points out in her dissertation, "idealization sprang from pragmatic causes underlying the political ambitions of the western expanionists." (J.A. Schimmel, p. 256) Thus Stanley softened the harsh and unforgiving nature of the southwestern terrain in an effort to promote the nation's expansion.
Like Mouth of Night Creek, Stanley's views consistently suggest hospitable and pituresque landscapes. (J.A. Schimmel, p. 258). Emory's written accounts give a slightly more telling view of the findings, but they too lack complete accuracy. The accompanying text to Mouth of Night Creek gives the reader and viewer a better idea of how troublesome and terrifying their journeys actually became at times.
We wended our way through the narrow valley of Night Creek. On each side were huge stone buttes shooting up into the skies. At one place we were compelled to mount one of these spurs almost perpendicular. This gave us an opportunity of seeing what a mule could do. My conclusion, from what I saw, they could climb nearly as steep as a cat." (W.H. Emory, p. 61)
Stanley's painting gives little indication of such difficult terrain and where he does hint at it, the colors are muted and the details limited, as in the center right area where the mules ascend the near vertical peaks. Although Stanley routinely depicted stricking vistas or unusual geological formations, he often portayed them in a favorable light, such as Mouth of Night Creek which has the appearance of a casual mule ride through pleasant countryside.
Mouth of Night Creek is an exceptional example of early American expedition art and fits into the same category of important and rare works produced by Alfred Jacob Miller and Karl Bodmer in the 1830s.
Mouth of Night Creek is one of twenty-seven works that were reproduced in Emory's topographical account. Although the expedition was at most times treacherous and unyeilding, resulting "in one of the most tattered and ill-fed detachments of men the United States ever mustered under her colors" (J. Provence, p. 2), it was necessary for Stanley to create images that would not prevent further expansion and settlement. As Dr. Schimmel points out in her dissertation, "idealization sprang from pragmatic causes underlying the political ambitions of the western expanionists." (J.A. Schimmel, p. 256) Thus Stanley softened the harsh and unforgiving nature of the southwestern terrain in an effort to promote the nation's expansion.
Like Mouth of Night Creek, Stanley's views consistently suggest hospitable and pituresque landscapes. (J.A. Schimmel, p. 258). Emory's written accounts give a slightly more telling view of the findings, but they too lack complete accuracy. The accompanying text to Mouth of Night Creek gives the reader and viewer a better idea of how troublesome and terrifying their journeys actually became at times.
We wended our way through the narrow valley of Night Creek. On each side were huge stone buttes shooting up into the skies. At one place we were compelled to mount one of these spurs almost perpendicular. This gave us an opportunity of seeing what a mule could do. My conclusion, from what I saw, they could climb nearly as steep as a cat." (W.H. Emory, p. 61)
Stanley's painting gives little indication of such difficult terrain and where he does hint at it, the colors are muted and the details limited, as in the center right area where the mules ascend the near vertical peaks. Although Stanley routinely depicted stricking vistas or unusual geological formations, he often portayed them in a favorable light, such as Mouth of Night Creek which has the appearance of a casual mule ride through pleasant countryside.
Mouth of Night Creek is an exceptional example of early American expedition art and fits into the same category of important and rare works produced by Alfred Jacob Miller and Karl Bodmer in the 1830s.