Whooping It Up 1895

Curator: Right now we are standing in front of Charles M. Russell's watercolor illustration "Whooping It Up" from 1895. What’s your take on this, Editor? Editor: Chaotic, definitely chaotic. My first impression is one of complete disruption and disrespect. You can almost hear the chickens squawking and the yells of the cowboys. Curator: Russell really captures a moment in time here, doesn't he? His genre paintings are fascinating because they are full of narrative. You have these cowboys charging through what appears to be a town with the saloon on one side, and there’s someone running away… Editor: Running for their life, it looks like! We've got a clear picture of race and class dynamics during that period. There’s the mob of cowboys, reveling, with weapons raised against a lone figure of Asian descent, while buildings bear signs that speak to immigration like the Hop Lee Laundry. And what looks like their laundry spilled. Curator: I always thought that Russell's art romanticizes the West but you're making me reconsider. What do you think he’s trying to say in immortalizing this image? Editor: It's hard to know Russell’s intentions. As an artist living during this period, he would have absorbed the culture and absorbed attitudes toward Asian Americans, attitudes, mind you, that were codified in things like the Chinese Exclusion Act. I guess what I find especially relevant is how relevant this image continues to be in our present day of increasing animosity against marginalized people. Curator: It’s interesting how he juxtaposes elements. The fluid watercolor contrasts so strongly with the very concrete—and often brutal—interactions of the scene. The seemingly carefree strokes give an unsettling effect given the nature of the image itself. I see how you bring our contemporary awareness to this; without it, the painting is just another illustration. Editor: Exactly. Without critically analyzing these works, we are apt to gloss over really significant social commentary. What strikes me most is this sense of cyclical repetition, of re-inscribing these patterns and biases against different groups, again and again. Art has the ability to make visible what is often invisible in dominant cultures, to unveil it, critique it. Curator: Absolutely. Well, this has given me much to reflect on! Editor: Indeed. Perhaps we should continue this conversation again soon?