Striking the Post

Details

SETH EASTMAN (1808-1875)
Striking the Post
signed and dated 'S. Eastman 1852' (lower right)
watercolor on paper
6 x 8 1⁄2 in. (15.2 x 21.6 cm.)
Executed in 1852.

Provenance

Arthur U. Newton Galleries, New York, by 1961.
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Gerold Wunderlich & Co., New York.
Mongerson Wunderlich Galleries, Chicago, Illinois.
Private collection, New York, acquired from the above, 1991.
Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 2009, lot 33, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Literature

M.H. Eastman, The American Aboriginal Portfolio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1853, p. 24, illustrated.
J.F. McDermott, Seth Eastman: Pictorial Historian of the Indian, Norman, Oklahoma, 1961, pp. 61, 86, pl. 81, illustrated.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

During his career as an officer in the U.S. Army, Seth Eastman was afforded some of the earliest opportunities to observe and document the lives and customs of Native American peoples, focusing on daily village life in his works. Striking the Post depicts an Upper Mississippi River tribe working up a war party. Before a new war campaign, warriors engaged in this ceremony by "reciting deeds of valor and attesting the truth of their claims by 'striking the post...'" (J.F. McDermott, Seth Eastman: Pictorial Historian of the Indian, Norman, Oklahoma, 1961, p. 108)

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