New Washita Painting

[jdmackintosh]

Check out www.langart.com for a new rendition of the Washita battle, commissioned by the NPS. Look under the Awards/Achievements category.

I have been to the Washita but at a time when the area of the Cheyenne village was closed to public access, so that must be why the landscape in the background seems so extraordinarily high.

[chas]

Remember this is just my opinion -- I am not an art critic; but the new rendition of the Washita battle, commissioned by the NPS lacks "historical provenance". What I don't see are horses and troops in rapid motion at daybreak after a heavy snow storm within a secluded hollow on the Washita River the morning of the 27 of November. I prefer the painting of the Battle of the Washita, as interpreted by James E. Taylor in 1878, depicting the soldiers' opening assault on Black Kettle's Cheyenne village. Interestingly, the artist's brother, Private Richard L.S. Taylor, who rode with Thompson's battalion at the Washita, was portrayed as the central figure in the attack. Perhaps the only painting where Custer is not the pivotal figure. Custer can be seen just left of center in a fur cap, buckskins, a full scrubby beard and discernible red scarf, urging his troops forward with a brandished saber. Dividing his regiment into four sections, the signal was given and a simultaneous charge made; the surprise was complete, and the route utter and disastrous to the Indians.

[kevingalvin]

John

An interesting painting but it looks so sterile in that the tipis all seem to be aligned and the soldiers equally so. I tend to agree with the other person who has posted their comment that the Taylor depiction seems to capture the event better. In this painting there is no sense of action - no power smoke to represent firing at the Cheyenne who are shown to have been hit. The horses seem to resting on the snow as opposed to churning the ground. I accept the ground would have been frozen perhaps but if a cavalry mount is thundering through it would have stirred the top layers of snow.

Nevertheless a welcome addition and no doubt will soon be seen on a book cover.

[crzhrs]

It's a well done painting but seems to lack any emotion or sense of urgency by both sides. Almost like the Cavalry was on parade and Indians standing and watching.

[Tricia]

I agree with everything that has been said ... but there is no artistic tension as well. Too many verticals and horizontals, but few, if any diagonals (which add visual drama). Compare this painting with the Harold von Schmidt work on the "There Was A Man" thread, and you'll see the problem. Or could this work reflect an Interior Department that is tired of "revisionism?"

Regards,
Leyton McLean

[custerstillstands]

I would have loved to see a warrior smashing Willie Blinn against a tree - Would have given a better sight of what the Cheyennes were