Wenona's Leap 1851

drawing, watercolor

landscape illustration sketch

drawing

toned paper

handmade artwork painting

watercolor

coffee painting

underpainting

united-states

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

botanical art

watercolor

warm toned green

"Wenona's Leap" is a watercolor painting created by Seth Eastman in 1851, depicting a group of Native Americans on the shore of a river, likely the Mississippi, near a dramatic rock formation. Eastman, a military officer and artist, was known for his depictions of Native American life and culture. The painting is characterized by its realistic portrayal of the landscape and the people, with an emphasis on detail and accuracy. The scene is likely based on a local legend or historical event, highlighting the relationship between nature and the people who lived there. The painting is now part of the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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This meticulous landscape is Seth Eastman's illustration for a story interpreted and then published by his second wife, Mary Henderson Eastman. In Mary’s version, young Wenona’s parents wanted her to marry Chaskè, a good hunter, but she loved another. One day, while her friends hunted porcupines along the shores of Lake Pepin along the Mississippi, they watched her jump off a cliff; this work depicts the moments before her leap. As Mary recounted in “The Maiden’s Rock; or, Wenona’s Leap”: “She was there indeed, loudly and wildly singing her dirge, an invocation to the Spirit of the Rock, calm and unconcerned in her dangerous position, while all was terror and excitement among her friends below her.”