"The Constant Sky," Saulteaux

"The Constant Sky," Saulteaux

912.1.30

This painting depicts a woman seated on the ground leaning against a tree with a cradleboard and infant leaning on a stand nearby. There are a knife case and birchbark basket on the ground next to the mother and baby. In the background is a river with two short waterfalls and a cliff face behind. The woman's posture is totally inappropriate as she sits with her legs crossed, an Anishinaabe man's posture. She is wearing a strap dress ensemble, including a dress, sleeves, belt, leggings and moccasins. The sleeve arrangement is very accurately depicted, but the color of the dress is tan, which is likely the artist's creative insertion designed to imitate hide.

Paul Kane

1849 - 1856

Anishinaabe

Berens River, Manitoba

"By way of passing the time, I took my gun and strolled up the river, accompanied by the guide, and fell in with a solitary Sotto woman and child sitting under a tree. She was quite alone, as her husband had gone up the river fishing in the morning. She did not appear to be at all alarmed or confused at our approach, and freely entered into conversation with the guide, to whom she told her name, Caw-kee-ka-keesh-e-ko, “The Constant Sky.” Tempted by the beauty of the scene, and she seeming to be in no wise unwilling, I sketched her likeness and the surrounding landscape with considerable care." (Paul Kane, "Wanderings of an Artist," 1859:438). Research conducted by Ian MacLaren reveals another painting of the same subject in a private collection that depicts the dress in blue trade cloth, which would be consistent with the trends of the time and place. This version, oil on paper, appears to be the model upon which the ROM version was made. There is another version of The Constant Sky in the Stark Museum that is almost identical to the one at the ROM.

Oil on canvas, framed

Gift of Sir Edmund Osler

strap dress

I.S. MacLaren. 1989. "I came to rite thare portraits": Paul Kane's Journal of his Western Travels, 1846-48. The American Journal of Art 21 (2): 6-22; I.S. McLaren, trans. 1989. Journal of Paul Kane's Western Travels, 1846 - 1848. The American Journal of Art 21 (2): 23-62. MacLaren, I.S. Paul Kane's Travels through Indigenous North America: Writings and Art, Life and Times. Forthcoming, McGill-Queen's Univ. Press, 2022.

52.34921, -96.98953 (N 52°20′57″ W 96°59′22″)

Courtesy of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM. Permission to reproduce this image must be obtained from the ROM.

oil painting

63.5 x 76.2 cm