10. GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM--FUR TRADERS DESCENDING THE MISSOURI

(Original title: FRENCH TRADER AND HALF-BREED SON), 1845

THE BIRCH BARK CANOE WAS THE TRANSPORTATION MODE OF CHOICE IN THE MISSISSIPI BASIN--FRAGILE LOOKING THEY COULD NEVERTHELESS FLOAT A SURPRISINGLY LARGE AMOUNT OF CARGO--UP TO TWO TONS IN THE LARGER VESSELS. THE PAINTING EVOKES THE PERIOD OF FRENCH PENETRATION AND EXPLORATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES TO THE HEADWATERS OF BOTH THE MISSISSIPPI AND MISSOURI, BEGINNING WITH ROBERT LA SALLE'S 1682 DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI TO ITS MOUTH AND HIS SUBSEQUENT GRANDIOSE CLAIMING OF: "THE SEAS, HARBORS, PORTS, BAYS, ADJACENT STRAITS, AND ALL THE NATIONS, PEOPLES, PROVINCES, CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, MINES, MINERALS, FISHERIES, STREAMS, AND RIVERS," OF THE AREAS DRAINED BY THE RIVER HE HAD NAVIGATED. FOR GOOD MEASURE HE THREW IN WHAT WE WOULD CALL EAST TEXAS, ALSO CLAIMED BY THE SPANISH. LA SALLE'S VOYAGE FORMED THE BASIS FOR THE FRENCH CLAIM TO THE LOUISIANA TERRITORIES.

THE GERMAN TRAINED BUT AMERICAN ARTIST GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM PAINTED THIS PICTURE IN 1845--IT IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS OF AMERICAN ART. A HAUNTINGLY POETIC WORK, IT CAPTURES A SENSE OF TIMELESSNESS, OF A LOST SPACE DRENCHED IN VAST ILLUMINATION,, AND OF, YES, COMRADESHIP BETWEEN MALES IN THE WILDERNESS--ALONG WITH THEIR PET RACOON--AS TWO FUR TRADERS FLOAT DOWN THE MISSOURI. OR IS IT THEIR PET FOX, OR PET BEAR CUB, OR PET LYNX, OR EVEN THEIR PET OWL? AT ANY RATE THE DARK OUTLINE OF THE WILD ANIMAL FORMS A DIAGONAL OF COLOR WITH THE SON AT THE CENTER AND THE AUTUMN TINGED CLUMP OF TREES IN THE BACKGROUND. DAD PADDLES DOWNSTREAM TOWARDS CIVILIZATION WHILE HIS HALF-BREED SON (SO BINGHAM'S TITLE INFORMS US) SEEMS THRUSTING THE OTHER WAY TOWARD THE RIVER'S MYSTERIOUS SOURCE AS HE ENJOYS A SMOKE OVER A BALE OF FURS.

WOMEN MAY BE OVERTLY ABSENT BUT THE PAINTING IMPLIES THEIR PRESENCE. THE TRAPPER'S HALF BREED SON HAS A NATIVE AMERICAN MOTHER UPSTREAM--HE IS PART OF THE LARGE POPULATION OF METIS--MIXED FRENCH AND NATIVE AMERICANS THAT FORM A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE CANADIAN POPULATION AND OF THE OLD NORTHWEST TERRITORIES. AND THAT BALE OF FURS HAS BEEN CURED, TANNED, STRETCHED, COMBED AND ELABORATELY PREPARED BY THE LABOR OF WOMEN, WHOSE TASK IT WAS TO PREPARE FOR MARKET WHAT THE TRAPPERS BROUGHT IN FROM THEIR HUNTING.