Thomas Moran - Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp

 The image I have chosen is a painting by the famous Thomas Moran called "Slave Hunt" from 1862. The name of the painting is what initially pulled me towards further viewing of the image as it seemed a very blunt title and also the word 'hunt' seemed a very aggressive word for what the painting was portraying, suggesting that what was to happen after this snap shot of time would be violent and unpleasant to say the least for those who were being chased. Looking further into the title, it almost suggests that the slaves were seen nothing more than animals that had run off and the owners were chasing them to take them back home, or even hunting in the sense that white men wanted to own more slaves and had to hunt them like animals and capture them so to own them and work them the same. But overall, the title suggests a darker side of the settlement of the West, even though at the time these images were probably normal and the title of the painting and even the painting itself would not shock or surprise people of the time.

When first looking at the image, the colours seem quite bright and vibrant considering the content of and meaning of the painting. This could then further the idea that the content of the painting was not  portraying a dark or bad event, as it was seen as normal during the time that the image was painted. On the other hand however, the bright colours could suggest that Moran is 'shedding light' onto the situation and speaking out about the treatment of slaves and how he believed that they were being treated like animals and if they ran away, they were still treated as such; however I am speculating as I am not sure of the opinion Moran had about slavery about the time, I am just making suggestions about the possible meaning of the choice of colours.

The location of the painting also seems an interesting choice for Moran's work, as it seems he mostly paints scenes which are beautiful and pristine landscapes; however in this painting he has chosen to place his subjects in a swamp. This may be eluding to the attitude that the frontier had at the time about wilderness and that it was not civilised unless it was touched by settlers, even if the land was inhabited by native peoples. In this case, as it concerns slaves and not native peoples, it may suggest that the slaves were seen as uncivilised by the settlers and that they were running to hide in the wilderness as that it where they felt they belonged, or where the white people thought they belonged. It may also suggest that the slaves may be running into the wilderness because they are aware that this landscape can scare settlers as it is the unknown and would deter them from chasing after them.

The next thing that draws your eye are the slaves, which are obviously the subjects that are being hunted in this context. There seems to be a man and a women, both are badly dressed in tatty clothes which seem to be ripped and un-kept, which would be correct of the time as slaves were just given rags or very old clothes which sometimes would barely cover them and would not be suitable. The man seems to be holding the woman up, suggesting that she is hurt, but overall might be suggesting that they are weak and will most probably be caught and captured and taken back to where they ran away from. The man seems to be looking over his shoulder, seeming to realise that white people are approaching, which you can see in the top right background of the painting. The fact that the white people seem to be closing in on them can further suggest that the slaves were weak and even if they did run away they would always be found as the white people were smarter and more sophisticated than the slaves.

Overall, the painting seems to portray the ideal of the European settlers; that the white people were dominant over slaves and that there was no way of running away as they would be caught. It also suggests how white people saw slaves; as animals and nothing more that could be hunted down and caught.