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Spearing Fish in Winter

Winter landscape painting with a group of Native Americans on a frozen body of water with holes cut into the ice. The Native Americans hold spears with fish next to tents, some positioned over the holes./tiles/collection/3/3733.xml
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Winter landscape painting with a group of Native Americans on a frozen body of water with holes cut into the ice. The Native Americans hold spears with fish next to tents, some positioned over the holes.
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Date

1867-1869

Artist

Seth Eastman

Dimensions

31 1/4 × 44 in. (79.4 × 111.8 cm) Framed: 42 3/4 × 55 3/4 × 5 in. (108.6 × 141.6 × 12.7 cm)

Accession Number

2004.040.009

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

In the foreground of this snowy landscape, Seth Eastman depicts an important method for obtaining food in the harsh, long winters of the Northern Plains. In tents erected over holes cut in the frozen lake, fish-shaped lures would be dangled in the water, and approaching fish would be speared. The hooded man on the left removes one such impaled fish. This work is one of nine scenes commissioned by the House Committee on Indian Affairs, depicting traditional Native American domestic practices, as interpreted by the artist.

Rights and Reproduction Information

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Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov