Jackson Overlook 

Julie Bell's painting "Jackson Overlook" presents a powerful image of two bears set against a backdrop of wild, mountainous terrain. The scene evokes a sense of untamed nature, and this links to a wider cultural narrative of American identity connected to concepts of wilderness and frontier. The image's meaning is shaped by the way it draws on established visual codes. The composition places the viewer in close proximity to the bears, as if we are intruding on their territory. Consider the history of landscape painting in America, and the way that depictions of unspoiled wilderness were used to promote the idea of a unique national character, an 'American sublime'. But these images also came to justify colonial expansion and resource extraction. As historians, our role is to unpack how this painting participates in this complex visual and cultural history. We might look at tourist ephemera, landscape photography, and early wildlife documentaries to trace the changing meanings of 'wilderness'. It's through this type of research that we can fully understand the painting's statement about nature, identity, and American society.