Skip to main content
Collections Menu

Knife

Date1880-1910
DimensionsOverall: 1 1/2 × 1/4 × 12 3/4 in. (3.8 × 0.6 × 32.4 cm)
Object numberT0598
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextYoung girls animate stories and myths with a storyknife, a gracefully balanced tool used for sketching. They illustrate their tales by carving lines and figures in the sand or mud. Characters are drawn and erased as the story proceeds. It is a favorite activity among girls, and is a medium for passing down traditions and moral principles from generation to generation. Kitchen knives are used for storytelling today.

ProvenanceLarry Frank, Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.441.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 492.
On View
On view
Bowl and Game Pieces
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1880
Bowl
Yokuts
c. 1890-1910
Doll
Seminole
c. 1950
Smith Memorial
Unidentified Artist
1820-1830
Undedicated Memorial
Eunice Griswold Pinney
c. 1815
Puberty Necklace
Athapaskan
c. 1880
Doll
Inuit
c. 1940
Basket
Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka)
1900-1925
Hat
Isabel Rorick
1997
Necklace
Athapaskan
c. 1850-1880
Fireside in Virginia
Queena Stovall
1950

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

close

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required