Dear HCN,
I don’t really want to
quarrel with the main argument of Allen Best’s essay, “The mythic
West and the billionaire” (HCN, 2/26/01: The mythic West and the
billionaire), but I think two observations concerning Thomas Moran
might complicate it a bit. In the first place, Best is simply wrong
in his assertion that Moran had not seen the Rockies in 1872. He
was an important member of the Hayden expedition to Yellowstone in
1871, and his paintings from that trip helped to create the
environment for the creation of the national park in 1872.
Secondly, Moran (and a great many other Western painters) chose the
subjects they did, not because of any conspiracy to delude the
public, but out of a conviction that their art could conduct
viewers to a perception, even an understanding, of the sublime.
Along with the losses noted by Best, our civilization seems to have
lost the interest in the sublime that was so important in the 19th
century.
Robert E.
Bonner
Northfield, Minnesota
Robert Bonner is professor of history and the liberal arts and director of American studies at Carleton College.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline HCN misunderstood Moran.
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