Just the same way as music plays a significant role in Native American culture, art has a very special place as well. Native Americans have traditionally used art as a way of expressing their culture for many years. Most of the art was created as a symbol such as eagle, bear, walrus, or people. On the other hand, the Victorian art depicts the cultural belief of the time about romance and beauty.
In native American art, basket weaving served as a very popular form of artwork that served two functions. Cornhusks and reeds were woven together to make complex baskets. The finished basket would then be dyed to make interesting cultural patterns, culminating in a beautiful piece of art and the baskets could also carry vegetables and fruits. During the cold weather, Native Americans appreciate nature by creating art of their animal friends. They curved walruses from teeth of whale, and made bears and eagles from rocks. Statues and pendants were in most cases created to symbolize the respect the tribe had for animals.
On the other hand, Victorian art came from artists who mainly focused on the growing popularity of modern elegance and high fashion, which was inspired by the growth of British Empire during that period. The popularity and the greatness of the artwork depicted made England to be considered by the whole world as a picture of finery, modernity, and elegant etiquette. Consequently, Victorian art in most case portrayed high-class and exiting events in bold colors to express emotional energy of the situation in the paintings (Rust 63). The art of European American culture came out of the cultural beliefs of the time about romance and beauty. Following the period of industrial revolution, there was a growing discontent with the philosophy of the Enlightenment, which put emphasis on empirical evidence, sciences, and rational thought above everything else (Rust 69).
Romantics did not like the idea that reason was the only way to finding truth. They believed that reason could not solve the mysteries of life. They believed that imagination, emotion and intuition could help to solve these mysteries. As such, Victorian art incorporated these ideals in their work. After sampling some of the various artworks from the Victorian era, what came out most was the unique style of the period. The artwork was characterized as highly lavish, ornate, and naturalistic. The art introduced during this period depicted a genuine art that was painted directly from nature. For example, Ophelia, which was painted by Millais between 1851 and 1852 shows a good example of the early Victorian style (Rust 65).
Most Victorian art had cheerful and bright colors and a severe attention to every small detail in the artwork. A common backdrop for most of Victorian art had landscape of rolling hills and small farms. Another important aspect of Victorian art is that they depicted women. In particular, fairies, nudes, and landscapes were common. On the contrary, Native art mostly served to decorate useful items or tell stories about their past or present. In doing so, Native Americans enjoyed paying homage to their animal friends. They made curving, pendants and statues to symbolize the respect that the tribe had for animals. The Native Americans also considered weapons and instruments as a form of art because they made everything with time and care. According to Buscombe (36), the most elaborate form of Native American art was probably totem. Totem were big, tall wooden sculptures that represented generations of family members.
Victorian art were expressing themselves with extravagant portraits of deep appreciation for beauties of nature. The aim of the art was to show emotion rather than reason order and instinct. Their art was characterized by high passion. Victorian art expressed passion and inner struggles. This was in contrast to native art whose main aim was to tell story and culture of the Native Americans. However, in both cases, creativity was the most important aspect of their art. They both did not follow any formal rules n making their art. However, the native art drew much from traditional practices unlike the Victorian art that concentrated on beauty.
In conclusion, the art of European American culture came out of the cultural belief of the time about romance and beauty while the Native art mostly served to decorate useful items or tell stories about their past or present. European American did not concentrate on their past or cultural practices. Instead, their art concentrated on what they saw at the time the art were made. Their art included nature in the background to show the villages of Europe. Native art on the other hand used their art to tell stories about their culture and decorate items such as baskets that they used. European American tells how the European like beauty and luxurious life while the Native art shows that their culture depended on hard work and they also valued their tradition. However, both arts expressed aspects of both cultures from different perspectives.
The Panic of 1873 is known as the first episode of global depression that resulted from industrial capitalism. The panic started with a regular pattern of boom and bust cycles that characterize the recent financial downturn America has had and which continues to this day. The Panic of 1873 was just like the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which was characterized by increased real estate speculation resulting into credit crunch, and failures of the banking sector that led to broad panic in the stock markets. The crash lasted for four years while the panic lasted for seven years. While many economists believe that the 1929 stock market crush played important role in the economic contraction, the stock market collapse in1873, just like the recent economic downturn America experienced, came after building boom created by easily acquiring mortgages and resulting banking crisis.
The main causes of financial panic in 1873 include over-expansion of railroad industry, losses in Boston and Chicago fires of 1872 and 1871 respectively, and insatiable speculation by Wall Street financiers. All the economic growth during that period resulted from borrowed money by many American banks. The culture of American has had significantly brought financial crisis. In achieving this dream, most Americans believe that increasing the supply of money can do best in improving economic development. The lack of money in circulation therefore results into financial panic that many believe can only be solved by increasing the amount of money in circulation. Financial panics can help businesses and consumers change their habits. An optimist could agree that financial panics can help to impose belt-tightening for businesses and consumers, a moderation that can help recover from economic depression.
The underlying ideas about business and government that led to the Panic was that the government funneled cheap credit into the economy because of the War of Southern Independence, both in the form of greenbacks and money from the National Banking System, into the expansion of western railroad. The cheap credits were established during the war in order to pay for the conflict. However, because it was artificial credit, the money had to be removed from the economy in order to return a capital structure that reflected consumer demand. The government could have done this in the late 1860s following the brief post-war bust when factories in America were being dismantled and re-built for non-military purposes and the US government was in the process of paying off its huge debts. However, the coming up of railroad sector provided an outlet for newly freed credit which created a new artificial economic boom, which finally busted in 1873.
Another idea that led to the panic was the American dream. The political and economic leaders who were normally on high spirits immediately lost hope after the economic downturn. The leaders during that period were innovative and dynamic in their business undertakings felt defeated. The only option they remained with was for the government to increase the amount of money in circulation, but to keep hands off. This prevented the government from offering unemployment relief. The capitalist ideas could still lead to further financial crisis because injecting more money into the economy has the potential of worsening the economy more that how it can help. The government should not only serve the purpose of injecting money into to the economy, but also introduce fiscal and monetary policies as well as regulating the market.
Works Cited:
Buscombe, Edward. "What's New In The New World?" Film Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 35-40. ProQuest. Web. 4 Aug. 2013.
Rust, Carol. "Native American Art." Southwest Art 08 2001: 263-70. ProQuest. Web. 4 Aug. 2013 .
