Post by Grubb.
There was an art exhibit at the American Museum of Fly Fishing we went to this morning. As i might have expected, there were paintings of people in mid-stream trying to hook the big one. Bent pole, taut line, straining angler, splashing fish, it all makes for a great field and stream action shot.
But the picture that stood out was a painting by James Montgomery Flagg, the artist who gave us the famous “Uncle Sam Wants You” World War I recruiting poster. Relying on his trusty red, white, and blue palate, Flagg’s “Tossing Trout” has a fry cook enjoying a fresh kill with all the panache of an exuberant 1940s pinup welcoming us to the campfire.
The rest of the museum’s artwork is more oriented towards men and women fishing knee-deep in peacefully swirling water with quotes emphasizing how they feel a symmetry with nature. They’re not only casting for trout; their gracefully looping fishing line is hoping to hook on to a prelapsarian past. These anglers believe the growth of their sport has to do with an increasing rejection of modernity’s idea of progress. And they didn’t need to enter a portal to feel this way. They just pull on their waders and step into the stream.