3 Art, Objects and Imagery
When you look at art, what do you see? Art for arts sake or something more? Signs? Symbols? Spirituality? A story? Native peoples used art, objects and imagery to communicate among themselves, with others, and with their spirit world during the colonial period. French missionaries also used art and objects for their own spiritual purposes but also to try and teach Christianity to Native peoples. So, how do you “read” visual objects? What can and/or do they communicate? Reflect on these thoughts and questions as you read this chapter on art, objects and imagery and their use to communicate within and between cultures.
As Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet journeyed southward along the Mississippi in the 1670’s, “while skirting some rocks” they saw two monsters painted on a high bluff next to the water
“which at first made Us afraid, and upon Which the boldest [Indians] dare not Long rest their eyes. Green, red, and black are the three Colors composing the Picture. Moreover, these 2 monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any [Indian] is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to paint so well,–and, besides, they are so high up on the rock that it is difficult to reach that place Conveniently to paint them.”[1]
Marquette is the first known Frenchman to have described the Piasa–a small, supernatural spirit that Native peoples believed attacked people, particularly travelers along the rivers.[2] Placed between the mouths of the Illinois and the Missouri rivers, this spiritual symbol served to forewarn individuals of the rapids and muddied, debris-choked waters at the intersection of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers. This dangerous junction likely swallowed up many poor souls who traversed this intersection particularly when water ran high.
The stunning artwork had a significant impact on Father Marquette, so much so that he described it in detail and took the time to draw it. Some fourteen years later, the original drawing remained visible on a bluff along the great river. Henri Joutel happened upon it as he and four Quapaws journeyed up the Mississippi River towards the Illinois country. “The 2nd [of September], we arrived at the point of Marquette’s so-called monster,” that the Jesuit priest had written about. “This monster consists of two meschantes figures, drawn in red on the face of a rock, eight or ten feet up.” Unexpectedly, Joutel’s Quapaw guides abruptly stopped their journey to offer a sacrifice to the painting. Not understanding the Piasa’s spiritual significance, Joutel and his men sought to disrupt the Quapaws’ efforts to pray for safety to their spirit world. Joutel wrote: “despite our efforts to have them understand that this rock had no value, and that we worshiped something much bigger, in showing them the sky [heaven]…this was pointless, and they showed us by signs that they would die if they did not fulfill this [sacrificial] duty.”[3] The Piasa had to