TEXAS HISTORY PAINTING: AN ICONOGRAPHIC STUDY

This dissertation examines painters' depictions of selected events that occurred during the first century of Texas's independence from Mexico. It discusses the iconographic significance of these paintings and their place in the history of American art. The focus is on their dual roles as reflectors and shapers of cultural attitudes as well as historical records. The introduction briefly discusses history painting within a framework of artistic theory. However, this study devotes more attention to biographical information concerning the artists' careers, their motivations for executing these works, descriptions of the paintings, and historical narrative of the events depicted than to detailed questions of art criticism.;Four genres of Texas's visual iconography furnish the subjects for each of the remaining chapters. The second chapter assesses seven artists' representations of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. The third chapter examines paintings by thirteen artists of the Anglos' conquest of the frontier in the three decades after 1836. The fourth chapter surveys five painters' depictions of the Texas cattle industry within the context of a brief history of this industry and development of the image of the cowboy. The concluding chapter discusses paintings by five artists of events in Texas in the first third of the twentieth century: the Galveston flood, the oil industry, and the Dust Bowl. The dissertation concludes that man's interaction with nature runs as a common theme throughout these paintings that have established a visual "iconography of heroism" for Texans.;The initial chapter surveys the development of history painting, beginning with its revival in England in the mid-eighteenth century. Benjamin West's career is portrayed as a model for the first generation of American history painters, including John Trumbull and John Vanderlyn. This chapter also discusses the efforts of Emanuel Leutze and George Caleb Bingham to combine elements of high and popular culture in history painting.