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Dress

Datec. 1895
DimensionsOverall: 27 × 22 in. (68.6 × 55.9 cm)
Object numberT0069
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextThis fully-beaded child’s dress was probably made for the daughter of an important family and displays both traditional and newly-adopted symbolism. The U-shaped design at the center of the yoke of this dress represents a turtle going to, or coming from, the water. The upper blue portion of the dress indicates water, and the yellow band signifies the shoreline. On the yoke are American flags whose multiple stars have been replaced with a single Morning Star, a symbol sacred to many Plains people. The powerful impact of the design attests to what a skilled beadworker with access to sufficient materials could achieve.
Exhibition HistoryMuseum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA -- Untitled, December 6, 1994 - May 2, 1995.

"The Flag in American Indian Art," New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ, August 30, 1997 - January 18, 1998; High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA. February 21, 1998 - June 13, 1998; Historical Society of Saginaw County, (Castle Museum), Saginaw, MI. August 1, 1998 - September 27, 1998; Houston Museum of Natural Science. October 1998 - March 1999; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE. July 3, 1999 - August 29, 1999; Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket, CT. October 1999 - December 1999.

"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.

"American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection," Mitchell Gallery, St John's College, Annapolis, MD, February 28, 2020 - April 26, 2020.
ProvenanceDrew Bax, Denver, Colorado; Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyAthineos, Doris. "Tribal Art Law." Antique Monthly. November 1993: 29.

Herbst, Toby, and Joel Kopp. The Flag in American Indian Art. Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1993, p. 80, pl. 72.

A.L. "Thaw's Indian Wing." Art News. Vol.94, No.6. (Summer 1995): 52.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.134.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, pp. 59-61.

Fognell, Eva. "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection." American Indian Art Magazine 36, no. 4 (Autumn 2011): 76-85, p. 76, fig. 1.

AIAM Calendar, 2013.

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. 159.
On View
On view
Bag
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1880
Shirt
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1890
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1890
Cases
Kiowa
1860-1870
Leggings
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1890
Shirt
Blackfeet
c. 1870
Bag
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
1885-1890
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1870
Pouch
Metis-Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1850
Martingale
Apsaalooke (Crow)
c. 1885
Belt
Manitoba Ojibwa
c. 1800
Jacket
Swampy Cree
c. 1800

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

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