Light Geometry 

Logan Maxwell Hagege made this painting, "Light Geometry," sometime in the 21st century. It shows a Native American figure rendered with bold simplification. The image presents an idealized, depersonalized vision of Native Americans and their relationship to their land. The serene and noble figure is harmonious with the landscape, seemingly at one with the earth. Hagege’s painting perpetuates a long history of representing Native Americans as figures of the past, rather than of the present. Such artworks have deep roots in the history of American institutions. The mythologizing of Native Americans, in painting and photography, served the purposes of the expanding American state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We can consult archives and historical societies to better understand the impact of this art.