Trappers

1956

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

The forceful shapes of two freshly killed Rocky Mountain elk dominate this stark composition. Even in death, their antlers, dramatically silhouetted against the white and blue snow, are locked, as if engaged in battle. Now, the elk share a common enemy, a fact Lawrence emphasized with bright blood seeping from both animals. Fur trapping and trading among Salish, Nez Perce, and Euro-American people in the Bitterroot Valley (in present-day Montana) intensified in the 1810s. Lawrence envisioned the vanquished prey as a metaphor for the land, material resources, and freedoms at stake in the War of 1812 and subsequent westward expansion. Like a few other panels in the Struggle series, the single-word title, Trappers, is apparently not linked to a specific historical textual source.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Trappers
Artist: Jacob Lawrence (American, Atlantic City, New Jersey 1917–2000 Seattle, Washington)
Date: 1956
Medium: Egg tempera on hardboard
Dimensions: 16 × 12 in. (40.6 × 30.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Collection of Robert Gober and Donald Moffett
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art