Description
Before Captain Eastman’s long residence at Fort Snelling, he was posted there briefly in 1830 as a 22-year-old lieutenant. Within a year, he had married a Dakota chief’s daughter, Wakaninajinwin, or Stands Sacred, and had a daughter, known as Nancy Eastman. Although Eastman would return to the fort ten years later with a new wife, this early union undoubtedly opened him to the domestic side of Dakota life. Here he records small everyday activities against a sea of tipis, all constructed by women.
This watercolour, one of 35 works on paper by Eastman in Mia’s collection, was the basis for an illustration in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s massive "Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States" (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851-57).
Image Licence
Public Domain
Image Credit
image courtesy of Minneapolis Institute of Art
Location
Fort Snelling State Park, Minnesota, USA
Country
USA
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
People & Society