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Snowshoe Dance at the First Snowfall
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
“The snow-shoe dance . . . is exceedingly picturesque, being danced with the snow shoes under the feet, at the falling of the first snow in the beginning of winter, when they sing a song of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for sending them a return of snow, when they can run on their snow shoes in their valued hunts, and easily take the game for their food.” The details were probably sketched at Fort Snelling (in today’s Minnesota) in 1835, but George Catlin never saw the dance performed in winter. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 51, 1841, reprint 1973; Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineSnowshoe Dance at the First Snowfall. 1835-1837. George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.. CC0.
