Performed acculturation at Fort Marion : a case study of Zotom's drawings

This study examines how Native American warriors imprisoned at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, between 1875 and 1878, used their drawings to perform acculturation. I use the Kiowa warrior Paul Caryl Zotom’s drawings as a case study to demonstrate how the prisoners became methodical and formulaic in their subject matter and artistic style. Euro-American visitors to Fort Marion appreciated particular drawings over others, thereby directing subject matter. Prisoners adopted European artistic standards, thus, connected with their White audience further. Zotom’s embrace of both the subject matter and artistic style that the Euro-American audience appreciated most indicates his desire to demonstrate how successful he and his fellow prisoners were at adopting the white man’s road. I argue that much of the apparent change displayed visually in Zotom’s drawings was performed rather than true acculturation.

Are drawings dead? …and performance over aesthetics?

When the act of 'drawing' became what can only be called formalised, (whose growth can be said to have blossomed during the Renaissance), there developed a separation between the drawing and its procurement. Recently, David Ross Scheer, in his book ‘The Death of Drawing, Architecture in the Age of Simulation’ wrote: ‘…whereas architectural drawings exist to represent construction, architectural simulations exist to anticipate building performance.’ Meanwhile, Paolo Belardi, in his work ‘Why Architects Still Draw’ likens a drawing to an acorn, where he says: ‘It is the paradox of the acorn: a project emerges from a drawing – even from a sketch, rough and inchoate - just as an oak tree emerges from an acorn.’ He tells us that Giorgio Vasari would work late at night ‘seeking to solve the problems of perspective’ and he makes a passionate plea that this reflective process allows the concept to evolve, grow and/or develop. However, without belittling Belardi, the virtual model now needs this self-same treatment where it is nurtured, coaxed and encouraged to be the inchoate blueprint of the resultant oak tree. The model now too can embrace the creative process going through the first phase of preparation, where it focuses on the problem. The manipulation of the available material can then be incubated so that it is reasoned and generates feedback. This paper serves to align this shift in perception, methodologies and assess whether the 2D paper abstraction still has a purpose and role in today’s digital world!

Report on the Florida reefs / by Louis Agassiz ; accompanied by illustrations of Florida corals from drawings ...

v.7:no.1 (1880)

Aleutian islanders; Eskimos of the north Pacific / by George I. Quimby, Curator of Exhibits, Dept. of Anthropology. Drawings by Helen Z. Quimby.

no.35(1944)

Prehistoric men / by Robert J. Braidwood, Research Associate, Old World Prehistory; Associate Professor, Oriental Institute and Dept. of Anthropology, University of Chicago. Drawings by Susan T. Richert.

no.37(1948)

Mummies / by Richard A. Martin, Curator, Near Eastern Archaeology. Drawings by the author.

no.36(1945)

Metal-glass museum cases of the Wistar institute; three working drawings.

Signed: M.J. Greenman.

Instrumentation for measuring pavement-vehicle interaction. Volume IV: specification sheets, lists of drawings, and sensor wiring schematics. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Some account of domestic architecture in England from Edward I. to Richard II. : with notices of foreign examples, and numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings /

Continued by the author's: Some account of domestic architecture in England from Richard II. to Henry VIII.

Gabo : constructions, sculpture, paintings, drawings, engravings : with introductory essays /

Selected references on Naum Gabo, by Bernard Karpel": p. 187-193.

The British tradition : illustrated in historical documents, autograph and illuminated manuscripts, drawings and printed books, eleventh to nineteenth century :guide to an exhibition, November 25, 1941-March 30, 1942 /

Mode of access: Internet.

Wild animals I have known : and 200 drawings /

Mode of access: Internet.