American Progress

4. American Progress, Gast 1872.jpg
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Title

American Progress

Subject

Weatward expansion, Manifest Destiny

Description

This painting is an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west; she holds a school book as well. The different stages of economic activity of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation.

This painting has come to represent the ideal of Manifest Destiny.

Creator

John Gast

Source

Museum of the American West

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA

Date

1872

Rights

Public Domain

Format

Oil painting

12 ¾” x 16 ¾”

Language

English

Type

Still Image