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Seth Eastman Art

American, 1808-1875

Seth Eastman is known primarily for his depictions of daily life among the Dakota and Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota. He was born to Robert and Sarah Lee Eastman on January 24, 1808, in Brunswick, Maine. Eastman attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he received training in sketching and topography. While at West Point, he began to paint scenes featuring the daily life of local Native American tribes. In 1830, Eastman was assigned to topography duty on the frontier and spent a short time at Fort Snelling before returning to West Point to teach. While at Fort Snelling, Eastman married Wakaninajinwin, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Cloud Man, a Dakota chief. Eastman left in 1832 for another military assignment soon after the birth of their baby girl, Winona and declared his marriage ended when he left. Winona was also known as Mary Nancy Eastman and was the mother of Charles Alexander Eastman, author of Indian Boyhood. From 1833–40, Eastman taught drawing at West Point. In 1835 he married his second wife, Mary Henderson, the daughter of a West Point surgeon. In 1841, he returned to Fort Snelling as a military commander and remained there with Mary and their five children for the next seven years. It was during this time that Eastman began visually recording the everyday way of life of the Dakota and Ojibwe people. His wife Mary also became involved in preserving Indian culture by writing books on local tales and legends, which he would illustrate for her. The most important of these books was entitled Dahcotah: Or, Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling. In 1847, Henry R. Schoolcraft, a former Indian agent, was chosen to conduct a study of the American Indian people. Eastman illustrated the six-volume set, published between 1851 and 1857 as Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Military Affairs also commissioned Eastman to paint images of 17 important military forts, which he completed between 1870–75. These paintings are now housed in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Eastman's works are significant for Minnesota history because art historians believe that Eastman based many of his paintings and sketches on his observations in the Sioux villages of Kaposia and Little Crow, as well as in Scott, Wabasha and Winona counties. Eastman died of a stroke while painting at his home in Washington, D.C., on August 31, 1875.

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Road-Side View (View in Wisconsin)
Road-Side View (View in Wisconsin)

Road-Side View (View in Wisconsin)

By Seth Eastman

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Label on stretcher bar: No. 175. / AMERICAN ART-UNION. /Road-Side View / Painted by / Seth Eastman / Distributed December 20, 1850.

Category

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Materials

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Seth Eastman art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Seth Eastman art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Seth Eastman in lithograph, engraving, oil paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Seth Eastman art, so small editions measuring 16 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of and Thomas Moran. Seth Eastman art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $475 and tops out at $65,000, while the average work can sell for $475.