Studies of Ojibwe Woman and Child

Studies of Ojibwe Woman and Child

Midosuay Beek ("Ten Dollars")

62.181.16

This drawing shows how a mother might wear her strap dress with a blanket loosely wrapped around her waist. It accurately portrays how the flap and straps would fall over a woman's chest. The fall of the sleeves is slightly less accurate, as the baby's leg is mixed up in it, making it clear Johnson didn't have full understanding of what he was seeing.

Eastman Johnson

1856 - 57

Anishinaabe

Grand Portage, MN

Text from the exhibit, "Eastman Johnson: Paintings and Drawings of the Lake Superior Ojibwe," at the Tweed Museum of Art, 2006: This double drawing combines the firmly drawn profile of Midosuay Beek, a young Ojibwe woman, with a rough sketch of a seated woman and child -- perhaps the same person in two poses. Compare this sheet with another drawing of the same woman in this collection: the care with which Johnson has drawn her eyes and chin on this double drawing is there developed into a fully realized pose.

charcoal and crayon on paper

Gift of Richard Teller Crane

strap dress

Eastman Johnson: Paintings and Drawings of the Lake Superior Ojibwe

Johnston, Patricia Condon. 1983. Eastman Johnson’s Lake Superior Indians. Afton, MN: Johnston Pub.

47.96147, -89.75949 (N 47°57′41″ W 89°45′34")

Low resolution images on this site are covered by Creative Commons 4.0. Requests for high resolution versions should be directed to the St. Louis County Historical Society.

drawing

10 x 5 inches

not available online