74 Seth Eastman, American (1808–1875), Dakotah Encampment, 1849–1855. Aquatint engraving on paper. 25.4 x 33.5 cm. Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, inv. 2014.31.1, gift of the W. Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Foundation. Chronicles of Native Life MINNEAPOLIS—In a serendipitous merging of events, the U.S. Army happened to place a talented artist-soldier named Seth Eastman at the frontier outpost of Fort Snelling for two tours of duty, the fi rst from 1830 to 1832 and again from 1841 to 1848, when native lifeways in the Upper Mississippi region were transitioning but still relatively intact. Based in what is today St. Paul, Minnesota, Captain Eastman’s extensive peaceful, fi rsthand encounters with Native Americans gave him extraordinary opportunities to observe their customs and practices, which he documented in his art. He produced the most frank and intimate— if slightly romanticized—visual record of the native population of pre-territorial Minnesota, and he came to be known as the “pictorial historian of the Indian.” The Minneapolis Institute of Art recently received a generous gift from the W. Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Foundation of thirty-fi ve of Eastman’s historic watercolors, drawings, and prints from an extensive series that he made between 1849 and 1855 to illustrate Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s monumental six-volume study, Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. These clear and well-informed images represent an astounding array of subjects: muskrat hunting, fi sh spearing, pest control, rice gathering, sugaring, courtship, marriage, shelter, travel, medicine, menstruation, mourning, dancing, warfare, government, topography, demographics, language, and music. A selection of twenty of these unparalleled visual accounts of native ways of the region are the subject of The Chronicles of Native Life: The MacMillan Gift of Seth Eastman Watercolors, on view at the MIA until January 8, 2017. LEFT: Ear flare. Moche/Chimú, North Coast, Peru. AD 700–900. Copper, clay, turquoise or chrysocolla, mother of pearl, Spondylus shell. H: 8.9 cm. Orlando Museum of Art, inv. 2001.26, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Solomon D. Klotz. BELOW LEFT: Seated figural urn. Zapotec, Oaxaca, Mexico. AD 300–600. Terracotta. H: 31.1 cm. Orlando Museum of Art, inv. 98.67, gift of Howard Phillips. BELOW: Shaman figural vessel. Nasca, South Coast, Peru. AD 200–500. Terracotta. H: 35.6 cm. Orlando Museum of Art, inv. 96.06, gift of Howard Phillips, by exchange. North to South ORLANDO—The history of the ancient Americas is unique and compelling, fi lled as it is in popular culture with romantic images of powerful empires and mighty rulers. The reality of the term “ancient Americas” is even more interesting, collectively referring to the continents of North and South America and the lands of Central America, each the seat of many civilizations that fl ourished from around 3000 BC until the arrival of the Europeans during the fi fteenth and sixteenth centuries. The artwork presented in an exhibition on view at the Orlando Museum of Art until October 30, 2017, reveals the symbolism, artistic techniques, and styles of many of these ancient peoples. Titled A Trek from North to South, the objects in this show are intended to take visitors on a journey from one end of the Americas to the other, highlighting both the diversity and interconnectedness of cultures and artistic styles from different regions and over great spans of time. From the decorated pottery of the Pueblo peoples to the jade, ceramic, and carved stone of the Maya, and from the goldwork of the Diquis to the ceramic portrait vessels of the Moche, the art of the ancient Americas is rich and varied yet, more often than not, based on unifying underlying principles.
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