American Progress

AMERICAN PROGRESS : American Progress has become a founding example of American Western art. The painting is an allegory of Manifest Destiny and the Conquest of the West. The painting was commissioned in 1872 by George Crofutt, but painted by John Gast. Faced with the large amount of images of the American West, Crofutt and Gast discuss the composition, which Crofutt describes as: "[...] a beautiful and charming woman [...] floating in the air towards the west, carrying on her forehead" the Star of the Empire "[...] In her right hand, she wears a book [...] the emblem of education and national enlightenment, while with the left hand she unfolds and spreads out the thin threads of the telegraph, intended to shine intelligence all over the country. " The woman in the center is called "Progress," and on her head is what Crofutt calls "The Star of the Empire." Progress moves light from the sky east and west, which is dark and treacherous, leading the white settlers who follow it on foot, horseback, stagecoach, stagecoach con...