Empty Lodge

Everything about this painting says the lodge is deserted. The dead fire, the plaza overgrown with weeds, the abandon vessel, all depict abandonment.  Native Americans took their lodges with them when they relocated.  So we can believe these people fled in haste in the face of a great threat. Did Martin paint this scene as a memorial to Native Americans?  They suffered a sad fate in the modern era?  Those who survived do enjoy all the rights of American citizenship as well as the citizenship of their tribes. But it’s not the life they led for thousands of years, is it?  Like Martin is showing us here, that way of life is over.  These people are no more except in song and in legend and in the hearts of those who admire their many good qualities.  AA043