Outside the Frame

In this lesson, students will be observing and discussing visual details such as mood and action found in the artwork. Using Family, Taken Captive by the Indians, the 1849 painting by Trevor McClurg that contributes to a long, fraught history of European-American depictions and narratives of American Indian people, students will write about what is happening “outside the frame” based on interpretation and/or research.

Objectives

• Students will explain their own ideas and understandings in discussion and in writing.
• Students will use context clues to make interpretations.
• Students will write what is “outside the frame” based on their observations, research, and knowledge of the historical context in which the piece may be based on.

Vocabulary: Frame, colonization, captive

Steps

1. Begin by showing students a painting or photograph where they can interpret what is happening inside and outside the frame. Some examples you could use may be (Children at Festival) (1955–1957) by W. Eugene Smith or New York Scene (1964) by Richard Estes. Using Family, Taken Captive by the Indians by Trevor McClurg as an example, students will be making interpretations based on what they see in the painting and what may be happening outside the painting. Do not tell the students the name of the piece until after the short discussion. Start the discussion by asking a few questions:

   • Describe the setting.
   • Where is this taking place? What do you see that makes you say that?
   • Who is the woman and the small children? Why are they the focus of the painting? What do you see that makes you say that?
   • What is going on in the background? What do you see that makes you say that?

2. Now tell students the title of the painting—Family, Taken Captive by the Indians—and have a short discussion about that, perhaps based on students’ knowledge (or lack thereof) of North American history.

   • Talking points should include colonization in America, how Americans Indians are portrayed in American art (and the ways in which those narratives contribute to an erasure of Native history),The French and Indian War, etc.
   • For 6th–12th grade students you may want them to research these topics and Trevor McClurg to come up with reasons why the artist may have chosen this subject matter and how it may relate to Pittsburgh history.

Brief Background

McClurg was born (and lived most of his life) in Pittsburgh, PA, the eldest son of Irish immigrant foundry entrepreneur and politician Alexander McClurg (1788–1873) and his first wife Sarah Trevor (born 1839). Trevor originally studied painting at the Royal Prussian Academy of Fine Arts, he later ran a drawing school, and became a professional photographer.

In Family, Taken Captive by the Indians, McClurg illustrated the popular nineteenth-century conception of the pioneers as heroic harbingers of civilization pitted against the hostile wilderness, personified by American Indians. McClurg portrays American Indians as either dark, shadowy presences lurking in the background as here, or, as in The Pioneer’s Defense (ca. 1855), an invisible menace beyond the cabin walls. Though the subject is American, McClurg’s treatment of it is European. His captives are painted in the hard, linear manner associated with the Dusseldorf school, and form a monumental, classical grouping.

1. For K–5th graders, have them write about what they think is going on “outside the frame” based on their interpretations of what is going on “inside the frame” (length should be based on students’ abilities). Have some students share out their answers or do a turn and talk with the person sitting next to them.
2. For 6th–12th graders, have them write about what they think is going on “outside the frame” based on their research (The French and Indian War, American colonialism, Trevor McClurg, etc.). Students should cite their sources whenever possible. You may want students to present their findings to the class.

Extended Lesson

Teacher provides students with a piece of paper that has the painting or photograph in the middle and students literally draw or paint what is going on “outside the frame.”