The Transgressor 1891

Frederic Remington created "The Transgressor" during a time of significant cultural transformation in the American West. Remington, celebrated for his depictions of cowboys and the U.S. Cavalry, was deeply invested in the mythology of the West. Here, rather than an act of heroic conquest, we see a stark image of punishment inflicted upon a Native American man, hung upside down against a cliff face while others look on. The emotional weight of this scene is heavy: we are confronted with the raw violence of colonial expansion. How does Remington, who made his career idealizing the West, deal with this act of brutality? The composition directs our gaze, and perhaps our sympathy, away from the victim and towards the landscape. In doing so, the painting elides the complex issues of justice, power, and the devastating impact of westward expansion on Native communities, leaving us with a landscape stained by violence.