John Jenkins Releases

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John Jenkins August 2023 Releases

Welcome to the August 2023 announcements.

For this set of announcements, we have Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, which I have been looking forward to. Plus lots for the American Civil War, plus American Revolution and lots of other goodies. Remember Christmas is just around the corner.

To view a larger image, just click on the image.

We hope you enjoy them!

Mike & Myszka and all at the Sierra Toy Soldier Company

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

"Fur Traders Descending the Missouri" is an 1845 painting by George Caleb Bingham. It is one of Bingham's most famous paintings, and the actual work can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was painted around 1845 in the style call called Luminism by historians of American Art. It was originally titled, "French Trader, And Half-Breed Son".

George Caleb Bingham (March 20th, 1811 - July 7th 1879) was an American artist, soldier and politician known in his lifetime as "he Missouri Artist". Initially a Whig, he was elected as a delegate to the Missouri legislature before the American Civil War where he fought against the extension of slavery westward. During the war, although born in Virginia, Bingham was dedicated to the Union cause and became captain of a volunteer company which helped keep the state from joining the Confederacy, and then served four years as Missouri Treasurer. During his final years, Bingham held several offices in Kansas City, while also serving as Missouri's Adjutant General. His paintings of American frontier life along the Missouri River exemplify the Luminist style.

Luminism is an American Landscape painting style of the 1850's to 1870's, characterized by effects of light in landscape, through the use of aerial perspective and the concealment of visible brushstrokes.

Luminist landscapes emphasize tranquility, and often depict calm, reflective water and soft, hazy sky.

In the summer of 1845, Bingham returned to his St. Louis home from a winter stay in central Missouri, bringing with him several paintings and sketches.

The "Fur Traders Descending The Missouri" was one of those works that he later sent to New York's American Art-Union, a subscription-based organization that promoted American art nationally through exhibitions and the distribution of popular prints. Titled by the artist "French Trader & Half breed Son", the Art-Union changed it to the more generic and less controversial "Fur Traders Descending the Missouri". Bingham, who began his career as a portraitist, produced this distinctive genre painting with little precedent in his oeuvre. The tranquil scene, with its luminous atmosphere, idealized the American frontier for the benefit of an Eastern audience.

The painting is also significant in that it captures a quickly vanishing American frontier and lifestyle. By 1845, the year in which Bingham created this now famous artwork, the profession was dominated by trading companies rather than the French voyagers who first pioneered the trade.

One of the more historically interesting elements of the painting is the cap worn by the man on the right. The toque cap that the father is wearing suggests that he is a voyageur of French descent.

The cap was used as a symbol of liberty by the French revolutionaries and was also worn in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. Also called a Phrygian cap it was originally given to slaves in ancient Rome upon their freedom from bondage.

There are many discussions about the dark creature on the left. Is it a cat? Or a tethered bear cub? Researchers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have concluded that it is a bear.

Many also believe that based on its pointed ears, long, sharp snout, and visible tongue, that this is a black fox. Black fox pelts were the most expensive, and therefore most desirable, furs of the time, but in addition black foxes were regarded as spiritually symbolic creatures by many Native American tribes.

WSP-115 Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

Whiskey, Scalps and Beaver Pelts

Gempei War

SAITO MUSASHIBO BENKEI 1155 -1189, was simply known as Benkei, and was a warrior monk who lived in the latter years of the Heian Period (794 -1185). He led a varied life, first becoming a monk, then a mountain ascetic, and then a rogue warrior. He later came to respect and serve the famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune. He is commonly depicted as a man of great strength and loyalty, and a popular subject of Japanese folklore, showcased in many ancient and modern literature productions. Benkei was known to have armed himself with seven weapons, and is often depicted carrying these on his back. In addition to his sword, he carried a broad axe (masakari), a rake (kumade), a sickle (nagigama), a wooden mallet (hizuchi), a saw (nokogin), an iron staff (tetsubo), and a Japanese glaive (naginata).