Freedom

Jasper Francis Cropsey, The Backwoods of America, 1858, oil on canvas, 42 x 70 1/4 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2006.100. Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Jasper Francis Cropsey
‍The Backwoods of America

What do we see in this art? Do you think these settlers were the first people to live in this place? What evidence can you find of other people having been there?
How do you think that these settlers have caused “change” in this setting?
What story do you think this work of art tells us about America in the 1850s?

Jasper Francis Cropsey created this pioneer landscape while living in London. His international audience found exotic appeal in the American pioneer theme, and Cropsey produced many works on the subject. A garden with distinctly American pumpkins and corn is visible at lower right. When Cropsey painted the scene, land across the country was being developed at an unprecedented pace. As if forecasting the end of frontier life, Cropsey signed his name on a rock near the garden that resembles a tipped-over gravestone.

Why and how do communities develop differently? What factors influence where people choose to live?
How do rules and laws differ for rural and urban Americans? How are they the same?

Freedom

Additional Resources

Jasper Francis Cropsey‍The Backwoods of America

Jasper Francis Cropsey
‍The Backwoods of America