Views in Hudson’s Bay (1825) and Peter Rindisbacher: Constructions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Culture in the Red River Settlement

• Author / Creator

  Mercer, Julie-Ann

• Within the Views in Hudson’s Bay (1825) print series are six hand-tinted lithographs depicting indigenous and non-indigenous culture in the Red River Settlement. The images engage with visual language from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century print series and travel books that construct North American national identity in connection to indigeneity. The lithographs are similar to watercolours by Peter Rindisbacher, a nineteenth-century settler-colonial artist who lived in the Red River Settlement from 1821 to 1826. Both the lithographs and the watercolours are social and cultural products of colonialism; the images convey narratives about colonialist and settler-colonialist perceptions of race and land ownership. The Views in Hudson’s Bay are simplified variations of Rindisbacher’s imagery; they construct narratives about British control in the Red River Settlement, whereas Rindisbacher’s watercolours interpret distinct individuals from the Red River Settlement and their attributes. Through a comparative analysis of the Views in Hudson’s Bay with Rindisbacher’s watercolours, I study how the imagery complexly negotiates colonialist ideology.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Watercolours
  • Nineteenth century
  • Lithography
  • Visual culture
  • Settler-colonialism
  • Indigenous
  • Printmaking
  • Red River Settlement
  • Peter Rindisbacher
  • Colonialism

• Graduation date

  Spring 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3BV7B72G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.