Old Arrow Maker
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha inspired Edmonia Lewis to carve the Old Arrow Maker, Minnehaha of the Dakota tribe plaits "mats of flags and rushes" while her father makes "arrow-heads of jasper." They both look up to greet Hiawatha, an Ojibwe, whose presence is implied by the deer he brought as a token of marriage. Lewis's evocative subjects often reflect her dual heritage; her father was African American and her mother Chippewa (Ojibwe). After studying at Oberlin College she became a sculptor, working in Boston and Rome despite the social challenges posed by her race and gender. The cessation of hostilities between the Ojibwe and Dakota after years of inter-tribal war that t ...
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Modeled 1866, carved 1872
Marble
54.5 x 34.5 x 34.0 cm
1983.95.179
Image and text: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2023