The Scalp and the Calumet. Imagining and Representing the Indian in the West from the 16th Century to the Present Day.
Somogy| N° d'inventaire | 20746 |
| Format | 24 x 32 |
| Détails | 256 p., numerous illustrations, paperback with flaps. |
| Publication | Paris, 2017 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782757212523 |
The ambivalent figure of the American Indian has never ceased to populate our imagination: from the good primitive to the romantic hero, passing by the eternal libertarian and the bloodthirsty savage, his representation has demonstrated a remarkable polysemy, reinventing itself according to the philosophical, scientific and artistic currents of the Old Continent. The discovery of America was an unprecedented upheaval for European minds of the 16th century, who saw the borders of the known world considerably expand. The new continent and its inhabitants immediately aroused wonder and fascination. The Indian, as Western images created and shaped him, is often only a mirage, a mirror of our own convictions and aspirations. Drawing on a variety of iconographic media, prints, cinema, decorative objects, advertising and toys, the authors examine the chronological changes in this European imagination, influenced among other things by literature, encounters and the desire to embody oneself as an Indian.
The ambivalent figure of the American Indian has never ceased to populate our imagination: from the good primitive to the romantic hero, passing by the eternal libertarian and the bloodthirsty savage, his representation has demonstrated a remarkable polysemy, reinventing itself according to the philosophical, scientific and artistic currents of the Old Continent. The discovery of America was an unprecedented upheaval for European minds of the 16th century, who saw the borders of the known world considerably expand. The new continent and its inhabitants immediately aroused wonder and fascination. The Indian, as Western images created and shaped him, is often only a mirage, a mirror of our own convictions and aspirations. Drawing on a variety of iconographic media, prints, cinema, decorative objects, advertising and toys, the authors examine the chronological changes in this European imagination, influenced among other things by literature, encounters and the desire to embody oneself as an Indian.