Howling Wolf and John Taylor comparison

Dominick McKinney

Art 160

Professor Nicol

Response Summary

Two artists Howling Wolf and John Taylor had both drawn a depiction of a treaty between the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche Native Americans in October 1867. Both of these pictures are displayed in the World of art text and both are very unique in their own sense Taylor uses a deeper spacial view which take the viewer further into the picture reflective of the traditional western art style in having a symmetrical layout. Taylor also uses the back a view of the treaty signing and seems to pay extra detail to the European peoples placing them neatly on benches side to side perhaps symbolic for an ethnocentric view of the Europeans being more civilized where as the Natives in the picture are spread out. Contrarily this could also be a representation of the different tribes that were in attendance however they don’t appear to have distinctive features that set the tribes apart as we know Natives were very unique in their cultures and as such had very different clothing and weapons etcetera.

            Howling Wolf has a much more ethnocentric view of the Native Americans who were represented at the signing using very specific images and iconography unique to each individual tribe. Wolf’s layout was much more flat or rather horizontal streaming like a river possibly symbolic for the flow of time or the rivers the Natives were used to freely using. Each tribe was separated by bushes where the Europeans are placed at the center possibly symbolic for the Europeans facilitating the treaty. Wolf also places the Europeans in the background and with angry looking faces, its almost as if Wolf is depicting the Nature of the European through their facial features backed up with one of the Men pulling on a horse with no saddle signifying it being a wild horse. In addition to the two artists using their own type of ethnocentricity in their art they both pay a close attention to their peoples distinguishing them from the “other.” I was surprised in Wolf’s lack of nature in his art there is literally no background which seemed odd considering the amount of forestry used in Taylor’s art when Wolf is A Native whom dwelled in the wilderness with his tribesman. The two sides appeared to share rather different customs regarding woman, Wolf has many woman present in his work whom were symbolic for the way the Natives viewed their woman displaying their love and affection for them openly unashamed.

Looking at Taylor’s picture there is a complete absence of woman which seems prevalent because it sends the message that a woman’s voice, nor her presence held any weight in the political arena and was disregarded which in itself is iconographic for the times period in which woman had about as many rights as a slave. To say the least after carefully looking at the two pieces of art Wolf’s art looks more abstract because of the lack of visual imagery but specific detail to symbolize his people where Taylor’s come more representational of the period and time of the treaty and the era in which it took place.