Indians Returning from the Hunt (from McGuire Scrapbook) 1841

Charles Lanman made this graphite drawing, Indians Returning from the Hunt, sometime in the mid-19th century. The drawing depicts several canoes with figures in them along a body of water. The image must be considered within the context of American expansion into native territories and the narratives that justified it. Lanman was a landscape painter who frequently depicted Indigenous people. By the mid-19th century, the Hudson River School was well established, a group of landscape painters who, on the one hand, celebrated the American landscape and the idea of nature as sublime and untouched. But, on the other hand, they were actively involved in the colonial project of representing Indigenous people, often framing them as part of the landscape, as if they are not active agents within it. The image invites us to research the political and cultural circumstances of its production and reception. By studying the historical context, we can better understand the complex and often contradictory meanings embedded in this artwork.