Untitled (Village Amidst Flowering and Other Trees, Mountains in Background) 1936

Otis Oldfield made this untitled drawing of a village amidst flowering trees with graphite on paper. Oldfield was based in the western United States and specialized in scenes from Oregon and California. Although undated, this image can be situated in relation to a set of cultural references and historical associations. The bare trees in the foreground, the mountains in the background, and the vague reference to dwelling places all suggest a connection to the idea of the frontier. It is part of a long tradition of landscape art in the United States, which helped to define a sense of national identity. We can look more closely at the visual codes of this drawing: What does it mean to make an image of a house in the wilderness? What kind of relationship to nature does it imply? By looking at the social conditions that made this kind of image possible, and exploring archives of the art and culture of the American West, we can begin to understand its place in the history of American art.