John Taylor vs Howling Wolf Essay Example

the treaty and used his abstract ways to show it. I believe that Howling Wolfs drawing was much more abstract than that of John Taylor. From his bright colors to his use of lines on his painting was much more abstract. From the green trees that are not defined with any detail to the outlines of the back of women.

Only to those that know about the culture would even now that the red line in the hair meant that the figures were women that Plain warriors had committed to. There is not much definition to the drawings of the tent or the small river that runs through the drawing. This picture makes the viewer look at the drawing and allow them to come to their own conclusion of what the event was like on that day in 1867. Taylor on the other hand shows almost as if a picture had been taken. The viewer can see very clearly the wooded are with the men sitting around listening and waiting.

With this difference in abstract use also comes the difference in their form and landscape. From Howling Wolfs bright abstract drawing to John Taylors black and white we can see the difference in the two images landscape. Howling Wolf did not spend much time on his landscaping in his drawing. There are some quickly drawn green images that we can make as representing trees. The small blue trail that goes through the painting is assumed to be that of a river. At the far left upper corner we can see the bottom of the tree has some small line almost as if they

were grass, but is the only grass shown.

Did he run out of time in his drawing or is there meaning to this? We can also see that the five trees in the middle were more defined than the others. Actually if you look up close the other tree show lines of what those four looked like. He must of change his mind and started to color them in to green circles. I wonder why he left those five that way. In John Taylor’s image you can see the black and white shadowed images of the wooded area, trees, and grass. John Taylor spent more time on the details of the image almost to make the viewer feel like they were actually there.

The use of light under the one big tree with leaves showing give the feel of warmth from the sun that may have shinned on the men during this time and helping to move our eyes to the center of the picture. John Taylor’s use of shading helps to provide our eyes with a focal point in the center of the drawing. His picture was more about the meeting itself while Howling’s seemed different. Howling Wolf’s picture does not really seem to have a center to it. The way the tree and tents make an abstract L shape through the painting attract your eye but are thrown off by the continuing tree and tents to the bottom left of the painting.

The way he seems to have the four trees, four men, and four women in the right hand side make me wonder if he was trying to make

this the eye grabber of the painting. Maybe this suggest that Taylor seen the meeting more of an overall group effort and Howling seen it as a small group of men (which are not Indian) making the deal. This painting lacks even showing male Indians at the meeting almost as if he felt that the male Indians that were there acted as women in signing a treaty.