"The Midday Woman," Southeastern Ojibwa

"The Midday Woman," Southeastern Ojibwa

912.1.7

This portrait depicts the "daughter of a chief from Lake St. Clair," which today is Walpole Island First Nation. The unnamed woman wears a fur robe over a white cotton or linen shirt with gathered neckline. She wears four strands of round beads and silver drop earrings. Although the portrait depicts only the upper portion of her body, it is apparent that the regalia is of the southern style.

Paul Kane

1849 - 1856

Anishinaabe

Walpole Island, Ontario

"An interesting girl, the daughter of a chief from Lake St. Clair, gave me much trouble in prevailing on her to sit for her likeness, although her father insisted upon it; her repugnance proceeded from a superstitious belief that by so doing she would place herself in the power of the possessor of what is regarded by an Indian as a second self." (Paul Kane, "Wanderings of an Artist," 1859:4–5)

Oil on canvas

Gift of Sir Edmund Osler

42.56858495442497, -82.51662988234438

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

oil painting

64.2 x 51.5 cm