Spur c. 1939

Editor: Here we have William Kieckhofel's "Spur," a watercolor and ink drawing on paper from around 1939. It depicts a cowboy spur; the drawing style feels almost like an advertisement or technical illustration. How do you interpret this work? Curator: What strikes me is the focus on a single object associated with the romanticized, and often problematic, history of the American West. Consider the role of the cowboy – often depicted as a symbol of freedom and rugged individualism. But whose freedom are we talking about? This spur, and what it represents, must be contextualized within a larger narrative of westward expansion, dispossession, and violence against Indigenous peoples. How does focusing on this specific object alter or reinforce that narrative, do you think? Editor: I guess I hadn't really thought of the implications beyond the Wild West aesthetic. So you're saying the spur isn’t just a spur. It’s symbolic? Curator: Precisely. The spur becomes a tool, a device related to both animal labor and violence and male authority and privilege. Reflect also on its date – around 1939. The US was facing critical issues of socioeconomic disparity after the Depression, while the march toward another World War loomed. This object stands almost as a relic, or perhaps a diversion from urgent and broader crises of race, class, and identity. It romanticizes a mythologized past that actively erases certain perspectives. What is its impact, in your view, when displayed in a contemporary museum setting? Editor: It provides a contrasting perspective… a visual marker for conversations about forgotten and misrepresented histories. I initially saw only a neat watercolor, but now I see it as something prompting a critical discussion. Curator: Exactly! It’s about peeling back those layers of representation and questioning whose stories are being told, and whose are being silenced.