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Eastman, Seth |
| Birth Place |
Brunswick, Maine |
| Death Place |
Washington, D.C. |
| Born |
Jan. 24, 1808 |
| Died |
Aug. 31, 1875 |
| General Notes |
Seth Eastman devoted a lifetime to recording the customs of Native Americans. Born in Brunswick, Maine, he attended West Point, and his subsequent military service made possible his life's work. He taught topographical drawing at West Point from 1833 to 1840 and wrote an important early treatise on the subject. Yet he had little formal training as a painter when, in the 1840s, he began his series of oils depicting the local tribes at Fort Snelling, which was built on the bluff overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. In his subsequent travels down the Mississippi in 1846 and in Texas in 1848 to 1849, he made watercolor sketches of Indians and scenery. In 1850 Captain Eastman moved to Washington, D.C. and worked on illustrations for Henry Schoolcraft's monumental work, Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-1857). In 1867 he began work on a commission from Congress to paint Indian scenes and U.S. forts, and he completed twenty-six views in the series before his death. |
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