Newberry Library - Frank B. Mayer collection of sketchbooks, drawings, and oil paintings of Sioux Indians during the 1851 treaty negotiations at Traverse des Sioux and...

Frank B. Mayer collection of sketchbooks, drawings, and oil paintings of Sioux Indians during the 1851 treaty negotiations at Traverse des Sioux and...

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Open book Frank B. Mayer collection of sketchbooks, drawings, and oil paintings of Sioux Indians during the 1851 treaty negotiations at Traverse des Sioux and...

Title Frank B. Mayer collection of sketchbooks, drawings, and oil paintings of Sioux Indians during the 1851 treaty negotiations at Traverse des Sioux and...

Creator Mayer, Frank Blackwell, 1827-1899

Date 1851-1886

Place Middle West, Minnesota, New York (State)

Language English

Subjects Art, American, Dakota Indians, Indians in art, Indians of North America

Description Title supplied by cataloger. formerly owned by Walter Channing Wyman. listed in the Newberry Library Artifact Registration Master File, v. 1, nos. 56 and 65. Forms part of the Edward E. Ayer Art Collection (Newberry Library) Mayer's diary, also in the Edward E. Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library, forms part of the Edawrd E. Ayer Manuscript Collection. Selected sketches printed in: Mayer, Frank Blackwell. With pen and pencil on the frontier in 1851. St. Paul : Minnesota Historical Society, 1932. For more information, consult the Special Collections Information File.

Summary Sketchbooks, drawings, and oil paintings, 1851-1886, documenting Mayer's 1851 western journey. The six sketchbooks executed during his travels contain mainly pencil drawings. In the first book (v. 40) are sketches of the Missouri frontier, the Mississippi, St. Paul, and Kaposia. The next four books (v. 41-44) contain sketches made at Fort Snelling, Traverse des Sioux, and Mendota. The final book (v. 45) includes a few Minnesota sketches and a great many of Mayer's return trip via Niagara Falls, Albany, and the Hudson River. Included in the sketchbooks are portraits of missionaries (T.S. Williamson), Indians (Winona, Little Crow, etc.), soldiers, French voyageurs, half-breeds, and U.S. treaty officials. There are also many camp scenes (Indian ball-players, weddings, burials, dances, etc.) and renderings of Indian dress and equipment. Mayer later completed the sixty-five larger drawings and two oil portraits from the images recorded in his sketchbooks. In some cases, the sketchbook sources of the drawings are cited.

Biographical/Historical Note Baltimore artist who traveled independently in 1851 to Minnesota to observe and sketch the Sioux Indians present at treaty negotiations at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota. In May of 1851 Mayer left Maryland and journeyed via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Missouri, St. Paul, and Fort Snelling. After visiting Kaposia he accompanied the treaty commissioners to Traverse des Sioux, arriving June 30. Mayer returned to Baltimore by October, having recorded impressions of his travels in a series of sketchbooks and a diary.

Extent 6 boxes and 1 v. (6 sketchbooks, 65 drawings, 2 paintings) ; 32 x 40 cm or smaller.

Format Drawings, Oil paintings

Archival Collection Title Edward E. Ayer Collection

Link to Catalog View record

BibID 991510228805867

Rights Status No Copyright - United States

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

IIIF Resource Type Canvas

Size 2612px × 1630px 12.21 MB

Filename 991510228805867_Ayer_Art_Mayer_Sketches_00005.tif

Unique Identifier NL11EPWM

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