‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26

This article examines early watercolours and sketches by Peter Rindisbacher, who in 1821, emigrated with his family from Switzerland to the Red River Settlement in Winnipeg, Canada. Rindisbacher's work has been praised, and made use of, for its detailed renderings of clothing and objects typica...

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Main Author: Peers, L
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2009
Subjects:
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author Peers, L
author_facet Peers, L
author_sort Peers, L
collection OXFORD
description This article examines early watercolours and sketches by Peter Rindisbacher, who in 1821, emigrated with his family from Switzerland to the Red River Settlement in Winnipeg, Canada. Rindisbacher's work has been praised, and made use of, for its detailed renderings of clothing and objects typical of the Northwestern fur trade. The article examines both the materiality of the images and the materiality within them, in order to understand his European mindset and training and consider their implications for the veracity of his work, which reflects European stereotypes of Aboriginal people. Viewers' responses to Rindisbacher's images are also explored, and the correlation between the assumption of veracity in these images and expectations about the ‘frontier’ is noted. Rindisbacher's images both reflect such expectations, and complicate them.
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spelling oxford-uuid:f3060966-19b5-4ba4-88d8-f4f69b4a7b9c2024-07-30T11:46:55Z‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f3060966-19b5-4ba4-88d8-f4f69b4a7b9cAnthropologyInternational, imperial and global historyArtPainting & paintingsEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordWiley2009Peers, LThis article examines early watercolours and sketches by Peter Rindisbacher, who in 1821, emigrated with his family from Switzerland to the Red River Settlement in Winnipeg, Canada. Rindisbacher's work has been praised, and made use of, for its detailed renderings of clothing and objects typical of the Northwestern fur trade. The article examines both the materiality of the images and the materiality within them, in order to understand his European mindset and training and consider their implications for the veracity of his work, which reflects European stereotypes of Aboriginal people. Viewers' responses to Rindisbacher's images are also explored, and the correlation between the assumption of veracity in these images and expectations about the ‘frontier’ is noted. Rindisbacher's images both reflect such expectations, and complicate them.
spellingShingle Anthropology
International, imperial and global history
Art
Painting & paintings
Peers, L
‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title ‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title_full ‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title_fullStr ‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title_full_unstemmed ‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title_short ‘Almost true’: Peter Rindisbacher's early images of Rupert's Land, 1821–26
title_sort almost true peter rindisbacher s early images of rupert s land 1821 26
topic Anthropology
International, imperial and global history
Art
Painting & paintings
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