Manabosho's Devices 1849 - 1855

drawing

naturalistic pattern

pastel soft colours

cake food

pattern background

pattern design

organic pattern

flower pattern

united-states

pattern repetition

textile design

layered pattern

“Manabosho’s Devices” is a detailed drawing by Seth Eastman depicting Native American pictographs. Created between 1849 and 1855, this work showcases Eastman’s interest in Native American culture. The work is a collection of various symbols and figures representing animals, humans, and other objects, offering a glimpse into the visual language of Native American tribes. Eastman’s meticulous documentation of these symbols provides valuable insight into the cultural significance of Native American art and pictography.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

⋮

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft reportedly collected these pictographs, which he named for the mythic Ojibwe character Manabosho, around Lake Superior. Although it is unclear how accurately the pictographs were transcribed, they were intended to describe a story, chant, or historical event. Seth Eastman painted four sheets of pictographs as the basis for the illustrations in Schoolcraft's "Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States" (1851-57), and these original watercolors are among the 35 works on paper by Eastman in Mia’s collection.