Portfolio > Museum Archaeology

John Gast, a Brooklyn based painter and lithographer, painted this picture in 1872 on commission for George Crofutt, the publisher of a popular series of western travel guides. Few Americans saw the actual painting, but many encountered it in reproduction. Crofutt included an engraving of it in his guidebooks and produced a large chromolithographic version for his subscribers. The significance of this image speaks of propaganda utilized to press the Eurocentric belief in Manifest Destiny and westward expansion.