A Child in the Process of Having Its Head Flattened
Artist
Paul Kane
(Canadian, 1810 - 1871)
Date1847
Mediumwatercolor and pencil on paper
Dimensions5 x 7 inches (12.7 x 17.8 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.78.10
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionCowlitz child having head flattenedLabel Text"The Chinooks and Cowlitz Indians carry the custom of flattening the head to a greater extent than any other of the Flathead tribes....The Indian mothers all carry their infants strapped to a piece of board covered with moss or loose fibres of cedar bark, and in order to flatten the head they place a pad on the infant's forehead, on the top of which is laid a piece of smooth bark, bound on by a leathern band passing through holes in the board on either side, and kept tightly pressed across the front of the head, - a sort of pillow of grass or cedar fibres being placed under the back of the neck to support it." Kane, Wanderings, Chapter XII
ProvenanceArtist; by descent to his grandson, Paul Kane III [1889-1958], Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; purchased September 17, 1957 through (Edward Eberstadt & Sons, New York, New York) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
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