History of the expedition that surveyed 280 islands, mapped 800 miles of the Oregon coast, explored the Antarctic coast, and collected specimens from all parts of the globe

First published in 1989 by Leicester University Press.

Illustrated with 120 color and black-and-white reproductions showcasing works by George Catlin, Worthington Whittredge, Albert Bierstadt, Georgia O'Keefe and others, Plain Pictures is the first book to address representations of the midwestern prairie as a genre distinct from American western art. In a wide-ranging narrative, Kinsey argues that images of the grassland, far from being plain, offer a paradox of their own: the significance of the subject is equalled only by the struggle to express it.