Does this portrait of a Mountain Man work?

[Heroique]

This is an 1865 portrait of California mountain man, Seth Kinman.

Kinman (1815-1888) was a settler in Humboldt County, and killed nearly 1,000 grizzly bears. He used two grizzly skins to make this famous “grizzly chair,” which he presented to President Andrew Johnson. (There’s a colorized version of this image in the ongoing Lounge thread titled “The Latest Abomination.”)

The detail that struck me first was the way his left hand is composed – imitating the bear claws next to it. It suggests to me that Kinman was a vicious man indeed. Yet his graceful, cross-legged posture suggests civilization, like he’s discussing Mark Twain in an upscale hotel lobby. One might also note Kinman’s baby face setting-off the grizzly’s angry snarl. More could be said about his body language & the careful arrangement of the props.

Do you think this image succeeds as complex portraiture?

Or is it little more than cheap melodrama?

[TXFZ1]

My first impression was cheap mellowdrama as I looked at his freshly polished shoes or boots and creased pants. Just did not seem to match my thoughts of a Mountain man. This has to be taken with a grain of salt as the closest that I have ever been to a real mountain man is watching Jeremiah Johnston on TV.

David

[Brian C. Miller]

Look up "Sylvan Hart," who lived in Idaho for most of his live, by the River of No Return (Salmon River). When he got dressed up in his "mountain man" attire, that's approximately what he looked like.

The IRS sent him a letter stating that if he didn't pay his taxes, they would come after him. He decided to get dressed up, and with one of the muskets he made, took a trip up to their offices, marched in, and said, "Here I am! I surrender!" After they got control of their dropped jaws, they bid him a farewell, and told him that they wouldn't be bothering with him.

I'd expect that Mr. Kinman did get dressed up for that photograph. Now, pretty much all of the mountain men knew how to make a buckskin coat, that's just par for the course. Did Mr. Hart wear his bear skin hat every day? Of course not.

Now consider this: if photography was as rare now as it was then, wouldn't you wear your best boots and shine them up?

[Bill Burk]

Wonder how many fingers are missing on his hand holding the gun...

[Heroique]

Looks like that hand is missing three fingers and a thumb!

He probably lost them when he killed grizzlies, face to face, with that knife. At least he still has a trigger finger.

BTW, the “portrait” of the grizzly is also interesting – I think the taxidermist used some artistic license for the saber-toothed face and hairy bangs.

[gth]

And why are you giving this sorry excuse for white man any room here?????

Who cares how he dressed up for his publicity photos? Mountain Man..... yeesh.....

WIKIPEDIA ON THIS BS ARTIST:

Seth Kinman (September 29, 1815 – February 24, 1888)[1] was an early settler of Humboldt County, California, a hunter based in Fort Humboldt, a famous chair maker, and a nationally recognized entertainer. He stood over 6 ft (1.83 m) tall and was known for his hunting prowess and his brutality toward bears and Indians. Kinman claimed to have shot a total of over 800 grizzly bears, and, in a single month, over 50 elk.[2] He was also a hotel keeper, barkeeper, and a musician who performed for President Lincoln on a fiddle made from the skull of a mule.
Known for his publicity seeking, Kinman appeared as a stereotypical mountain man dressed in buckskins on the U.S. east coast and selling cartes de visites of himself and his famous chairs. The chairs were made from elkhorns and grizzly bear skins and given to U.S. Presidents.[3][4] Presidents so honored include James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Rutherford Hayes. He may have had a special relationship with President Lincoln, appearing in at least two of Lincoln's funeral corteges, and claiming to have witnessed Lincoln's assassination.
His autobiography, dictated to a scribe in 1876, was first published in 2010 and is noted for putting "the entertainment value of a story ahead of the strict facts." His descriptions of events change with his retelling of them. Contemporary journalists and modern writers were clearly aware of the stories contained in the autobiography, "but each chooses which version to accept."[5]

[Light Guru]

The detail that struck me first was the way his left hand is composed – imitating the bear claws next to it. It suggests to me that Kinman was a vicious man indeed. Yet his graceful, cross-legged posture suggests civilization, like he’s discussing Mark Twain in an upscale hotel lobby. One might also note Kinman’s baby face setting-off the grizzly’s angry snarl. More could be said about his body language & the careful arrangement of the props.

Wow, you are so over analyzing this image. Hi Shane is not imitating the bear claw it's simply holding the gun.

Do you think this image succeeds as complex portraiture?

Or is it little more than cheap melodrama?

That depends what do you think "complex portraiture" is. I think it is just cheep melodrama it was done a lot back then.


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[Heroique]

Wow, you are so over analyzing this image. Hi Shane [His hand] is not imitating the bear claw it’s simply holding the gun.

His “left hand” is the one on his left arm, not the one holding the gun. (That would be his right hand.) I have no doubt his left hand means to imitate the bear claws. Chances are it was the photographer’s idea, and not really a bad one, even if it’s a little ... heavy handed.

-----
For comparison, here’s a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt – not as a Mountain Man, but as a Plainsman. As in the plains of the Dakota Bad Lands. This portrait was made to promote one of his books. The knife and scabbard, on his belt, were custom made by Tiffany. It’s interesting to compare the Kinman/Roosevelt studio portrait conventions.

[Michael Clark]

Here's another Mountain Man (JP Morgan),did not have a gun but a knife. Morgans personal secretary talked him into getting a portrait done by Steichen . Steichen has only 10 minutes time for Morgan's sitting , exposes a few shots then as Morgan starts to stand up Steichen fires one last film off. Gets it done in 10 ten minutes and Morgan thanks him. The hand with the knife is actually the arm of the chair but looks like a knife and was not planned just a lucky circumstance. This Portrait worked for Steichen even tho it was a grab shot so to speak.

[Drew Wiley]

I'm surprised that guy wasn't mistaken for a grizzly himself. I don't know how JP Morgan fits into all this - but he was a white-collar robber baron that had a lot to
do with destroying the West. I grew up hearing tales of the local mtn men from their children. Grizzlies became extinct in Calif by the 1920's, but they were once
abundant and esp cantankerous. The man who supervised the road grading thru those hills reminisced about sitting at the dinner table in a cabin up the hill, while the whole family awaited the father to return from woodcutting. He'd been charged by a grizzly and got just one shot off, then had to finish the bear off with a bowie knife. ... then managed to drag himself back home with clothes all shredded and bloody. Naturally the first thing the wife did was to scold him for showing up
to the dinner table late, looking like a mess.