Much of the West, particularly the history of California, is rooted in stories about gold and the rush to mine it from the earth. This aspect of the American West is the subject of a new exhibition now open at the Tucson Desert Art Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
Hydraulic mining near French Corral, Nevada County, stereograph, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth publisher. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Gold Fever: Glory and Greed in the Western Expansion Years, which runs through June 29, tells the comprehensive story of the California and Western gold rushes that helped transform the West into centers of commerce and industry. The show will illustrate “not only the transformative impact of the pursuit of gold and glory on America but also the resulting moral corruption, as seen through the lens of the seven deadly sins,” the museum notes.
Frank Holl (1815-1884) and Felix Octavius Carr Darley (1822-1888), Native Californians lassoing a bear, 1873, etching, hand-colored, 6 x 8½”. Courtesy Library of Congress.
The exhibition features rare artifacts, personal narratives, video and artworks, as well as mining artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society. Using the seven deadly sins—greed, envy, pride, lust, gluttony, wrath and sloth—Gold Fever will explore the sudden explosion of wealth and moral decay that soon followed the discovery of gold.
Louis Dalrymple (1866-1905), published in New York by Keppler & Schwarzmann 1897, chromolithograph. Courtesy Library of Congress.
“Through Gold Fever, we aim to present a more nuanced view of the Western gold rushes of the mid- and late-1800s, acknowledging not only the economic transformation they spurred but also the moral complexities and human costs involved,” says Alyssa Travis, curator of the Tucson Desert Art Museum.
For more information, visit www.tucsondart.org. —
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