For the Pioneer's Club-Des Moines

Object NamePrint

Artist / Maker Jay Norwood Darling (American, 1876 - 1962)

Date1932

Mediumphotoetching

Dimensions8 7/8 x 6 3/4 in. (22.5 x 17.1 cm)

ClassificationsPrints and Printing Plates

Credit LineGift of the J. N. "Ding" Darling Foundation. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM82.175

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextAs white settlement spread across the United States, people perceived these landscapes to be endless, untamed, boundless and uncultivated until the farmer and plow produced bountiful crops. This romantic version of nature as immense and eternal began to evaporate. Darling's print highlights the undisturbed environment and sends a cautionary message that human habitation impacts and alters the natural environment. In this image human migration poetically parallels bird migration, each seeking a renewed environment in which to settle, reproduce and thrive. ----------------------------------------------------------- A pioneer family pauses on the crest of a hill overlooking a broad river valley. The towering cumulus clouds and the endless vista create a vast sense of space which is emphasized by the individual grasses in the foreground. The migrating birds overhead are a visual parallel to the journeying family. This pioneer image is related to "untitled (Iowa as man found it)", although the two landscapes are different. The V-formation of the ducks is found in both works of art. Darling also used the pioneer family with covered wagon in several cartoons. Darling titled this print "For the Pioneer's Club" but the Polk County men's organization has no record of it.

Object Titles[com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.ObjectTitle@9f74]

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