Shawstun, Head Chief of the Snohomish
Artist
Paul Kane
(Canadian, 1810 - 1871)
Date1847
Mediumwatercolor and pencil on paper
Dimensions6 7/8 x 5 inches (17.5 x 12.7 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.78.37
ClassificationsPaintings
Label Text"In one of my daily excursions, I was particularly struck by the ugliness of an Indian whom I met. Upon inquiring, I found he was Shawstun, the head chief of the Sinahomas. He inquired very earnestly if my sketching him would not involve the risk of dying; and after I had finished the sketch, and given him a piece of tobacco, he held it up for some moments, and said it was a small recompense for risking his life. He followed me afterwards for two or three days, begging of me to destroy the picture, and at last, to get rid of him, I made a rough copy of it, which I tore up in his presence, pretending that it was the original." Kane, Wanderings, Chapter XV
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
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