Gathering Wild Rice 1849 - 1855

drawing, watercolor

drawing

landscape

watercolor

romanticism

genre-painting

watercolor

realism

indigenous-americas

"Gathering Wild Rice," an 1849-1855 watercolor by Seth Eastman, depicts a group of Native Americans harvesting wild rice in a canoe. The scene, rendered with meticulous detail, showcases the importance of this food source in Native American culture. Eastman, a military officer and artist, was known for his portrayals of Native American life, often based on his personal observations. This work, with its delicate brushstrokes and realistic depiction, offers a glimpse into the traditional practices and resourcefulness of indigenous peoples.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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This is the first known picture by a non-Native artist of people harvesting Minnesota’s proudest hotdish ingredient. The birchbark canoe indicates these women are probably Anishinaabe (Ojibwe); Dakota people typically carved canoes from tree trunks. One woman steadies the canoe while the others bend stalks over the gunwale and gently release the seeds with paddles. The wild grain is then gathered, dried, and hulled. Ohiyesa (also called Charles Eastman), a grandson of Seth Eastman and the Dakota woman Wakaninajinwin, described the next step: “The women then pour it upon a robe and begin to shake it so that the chaff will be separated by the wind.” This watercolor, 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).