Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Artist
Paul Kane
(Canadian, 1810 - 1871)
Date1847
Mediumwatercolor and pencil on paper
Dimensions5 1/2 x 9 7/16 inches (14 x 24 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.78.70
ClassificationsPaintings
Label TextThis sketch shows Kane and his party returning by canoe to Fort Victoria, British Columbia in a storm. Kane completed this sketch from memory.
“Chea-clack considering that our canoe was too small, succeeded in changing it for a larger one, and at 3 o'clock A.M. we embarked and proceeded to make a traverse of thirty-two miles in an open sea. When we had been out for about a couple of hours the wind increased to a perfect gale, and blowing against an ebb tide caused a heavy swell. We were obliged to keep one man constantly baling to prevent our being swamped. . . It was altogether a scene of the most wild and intense excitement: the mountainous waves roaming round our little canoe as if to engulph us every moment, the wind howling over our heads, and the yelling Indians, made it actually terrific." 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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