Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap 1852

Editor: Here we have George Caleb Bingham's "Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap," painted in 1851-52 using oil on canvas. I'm struck by how staged and almost theatrical the scene feels. What story do you think the artist is trying to tell here? Curator: Forget the romantic story, and look at the *stuff*: the very specific way the artist depicts the fabrics of their clothes, the precise way each gun is rendered, even the dog's breed. Think about the materiality of expansion, the actual objects settlers required. Bingham meticulously details these possessions – and their cost. Editor: So you’re saying it’s not about westward expansion in some abstract sense, but about the specific *things* that enabled and represented it? Curator: Exactly. These weren't just pioneers; they were consumers, driving a market for textiles, firearms, even specialized dog breeds. Look at the canvas itself: where was it woven? Who primed it? Oil paint itself, readily available at this time, played a role. The Hudson River School had a unique visual interpretation of progress because of industrial development of paints and fabrics. This piece celebrates not just the journey but the developing market and its effect on both consumerism and artmaking. Editor: That makes me look at it in a completely different light! It’s less about bravery and more about the nuts and bolts – or should I say, the canvas and pigments – of settlement. I now see how it really blurs the line between history and material culture. Curator: Precisely. Now consider what the next stage was and how these initial settlements caused displacement and used more and more industrial objects.