Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Utah 1982

 

Linda Connor

  1944 - PRESENT (biography)

1982  

photograph 

9 3/4 x 7 3/8" image and paper size 

pencil, verso 

 

pencil signed, titled, and dated verso 

 

matte photo paper 

 

artist 

14036 

$800.00 

Linda Connor uses an 8 x 10 view camera to capture the awe and mystery of the Great Gallery, a portion of the Horseshoe Canyon wall in Canyonlands National Park, marked with life-sized pictographs of early Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. Notes the U.S. National Parks Sytem on the Horseshoe Canyon webpage:

"Horseshoe Canyon contains some of the most significant rock markings in North America. The Great Gallery, the best known pictograph panel in Horseshoe Canyon, includes well-preserved, life-sized figures with intricate designs.

"American Indian rock markings found in Horseshoe Canyon are most commonly painted in a style known as “Barrier Canyon.” This style is believed to date to the Late Archaic period, from 2000 BCE to 500 CE (Common Era). During this time, nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers made Horseshoe Canyon their seasonal home. During later periods, the Fremont and ancestral Puebloan cultures left their own distinctive rock markings in the canyon, but their presence was brief in comparison, and final abandonment occurred by 1300 CE.

"The Great Gallery is the best known and most spectacular of the Horseshoe Canyon panels. This well preserved site includes both pictographs (painted figures) and petroglyphs (figures etched in the rock with a sharp stone). The tapered, life-size figures lack arms and legs but frequently contain intricate designs. These designs are characteristic of the Barrier Canyon style."