Twins At Heart 

Julie Bell painted "Twins At Heart," an image that presents a slice of Western Americana focused on the horse and its rider's gear. The details of the saddle, rope, and the rider's boot in the stirrup create a narrative of horsemanship. Painted in the late 20th or early 21st century, Bell's work taps into a long tradition of Western art. One must consider how this genre is shaped by and, in turn, shapes our understanding of American identity. This goes all the way back to the 19th-century paintings and sculptures that romanticized the cowboy. These were often commissioned to promote the idea of westward expansion. The cowboy figure was, and still is, used to embody ideals of rugged individualism and freedom. By studying related visual culture and historical documents such as advertisements, one can uncover the social and political functions of what might seem to be a simple image of a horse.