Skip to main content
Collections Menu
Headdress
Headdress

Headdress

Datec. 1890
DimensionsOverall: 89 × 22 in. (226.1 × 55.9 cm)
Object numberT0059
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThe Plains eagle feather headdress became perhaps the most famous and widely recognized symbol of American Indian life. Such elaborate examples, with their long trailers of feathers, were worn by accomplished warriors. Designed to be worn on horseback, they moved dramatically in the winds of the Plains. The tips of the feathers on the crown are decorated with horsehair, eagle down, and more down can be seen on some of the feathers of the trailer. The cotton cloth that forms the foundation of the trailer was printed with patriotic motifs. Stars were traditionally associated with Plains war power, and the American flag was also considered a potent power symbol.
Exhibition HistoryMuseum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA, December 6, 1994 - May 2, 1995.

"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceMorning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyHerbst, Toby, and Joel Kopp. The Flag in American Indian Art. Cooperstown, NY: New York Historical Association, 1993, p. 110, pl. 110.

Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris: Somogy editions d'Art, 1999, p. 52, fig. 37.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.151.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 67.

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. 156.
On View
Not on view
Feather Headdress
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1900
Shield
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
c. 1900
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1890
Bag
Odawa or cultural relatives
c. 1790
Bandolier Bag
Potawatomi
c. 1900
Moccasin
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
c. 1880-1900
Bag
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
1885-1890
Knife and Knife Sheath
Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
1890-1910
Moccasins
Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
1900-1925
Teepee liner
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
c. 1940
Canoe Model
Mary Kooyik (Mani Kueyik)
1847-1854
Drawing - Two Bear's War Record
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
c. 1870

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

close

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required