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WolfeMaryMelissa1997 cd sm.pdf (5.27 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
The Influence of Ethnography on the Indian Portraits of Elbridge Ayer Burbank
Author Info
Wolfe, Mary Melissa
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019638
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
1997, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, History of Art.
Abstract
Elbridge Ayer Burbank (1858-1949) travelled West in 1897 to paint portraits of Native Americans. By 1906, he had created nearly 1,000 oil portraits of Indians throughout North America. Burbank worked under the patronage of his uncle, Edward Ayer, but also in an informal association with members of the Bureau of American Ethnography, particularly William H. Holmes. This thesis suggests that Burbank's portraits were constructed, visually and conceptually, through the implementation of a number of contemporary ethnographic ideas and practices. Visually, Burbank builds on a compositional format employed in earlier Indian portraiture. Attention to visual specificity and empirical accuracy differentiates Burbank's works from earlier works and reflects contemporary ethnographic photography, particularly the "type" photographs used in physical anthropology. Burbank also often adopted for his own compositions the designs in his sitters' dress and ornaments. Burbank understood that to be pertinent to ethnographers his images not only had to match photography's visual accuracy, but also had to classify specifically enough for scientific purposes the visual information they contained. Burbank's portraits do so in that they are identified with the sitter's name, tribe, geographic location, date, and artist's signature. The importance of this particular information was derived from categorizations used in "life group" ethnographic exhibits and "type" photographs. While Burbank's labels shape how individual images are understood, they also define the portraits' relationship to one another. If the portraits are considered a collection, and Burbank's intention was to complete a portrait from every North American tribe, the labels also introduce a rational system, based on objective facts, through which each work could be quantified, classified, and compared. Lastly, Burbank's purpose in his endeavor was to preserve on canvas the physical traits and cultural objects of Indian culture for future study. This idea, to save elements of traditional Indian culture for scientific study because the culture was believed soon to disappear, was termed salvage ethnography and was the driving force in ethnography at the time. Burbank understood that for his images to be used in this manner, they had to comprise a collection that was rational, accurate, and complete.
Committee
Barbara Groseclose (Advisor)
Francis Richardson (Committee Member)
Pages
125 p.
Subject Headings
Art History
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EndNote
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Citations
Wolfe, M. M. (1997).
The Influence of Ethnography on the Indian Portraits of Elbridge Ayer Burbank
[Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019638
APA Style (7th edition)
Wolfe, Mary.
The Influence of Ethnography on the Indian Portraits of Elbridge Ayer Burbank.
1997. Ohio State University, Master's thesis.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019638.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Wolfe, Mary. "The Influence of Ethnography on the Indian Portraits of Elbridge Ayer Burbank." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019638
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
osu1392019638
Download Count:
233
Copyright Info
© 1997, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.