Ojibwe Women

Ojibwe Women

62.181.13

This composition depicts four Anishinaabe women wearing strap dresses. The one on the far left is standing, while the other three are seated. The one on the far right is breastfeeding a baby in a cradleboard (tikinagan). Three of the women are wearing sleeves with their ensembes, but Johnson has not quite depicted them correctly. The closest portrayal is the sleeve in the foreground, although it is shown way too low off the shoulder. In the background there is some kind of building and a group of people gathered on a hill, with larger hills in the distance. On the left side, there is a partially visible human.

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 canvas brings together several figures in an almost random order, suggesting that Johnson painted them to document poses and clothing for future paintings. The women wear colorful strap dresses, moccasins, and jewelry, all of which would be useful visual data for an artist of Johnson's time to use in his studio. In the background at right is gathering of people-perhaps for a funeral, as the ridge on which they stand is an old Ojibwe cemetery.

oil on canvas

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.

oil painting

19 x 20 1/8 inches

not available online