Lot 566: Charles Wellington Furlong (American, 1874-1967) Yahgans in a Beech-log Canoe Signed an...

Charles Wellington Furlong (American, 1874-1967)

Yahgans in a Beech-log Canoe
Signed and dated "Charles W Furlong 09" l.l.
Oil on canvas, 24 x 16 in. (61.0 x 40.6 cm), framed.
Condition: Patch reinforcement, retouch, signature reinforced.

Literature: "The Southernmost People of the World," by Charles Wellington Furlong, F.R.G.S., Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1909, no. 709, p. 128 (illus.).
N.B. Charles Wellington Furlong, the son of artist Atherton B. Furlong, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and began his artistic career at the Massachusetts Normal Art School. Furlong continued his studies at the École des Beaux Arts in France, and later became the head of the art department at Cornell University. Furlong¹s success, however, extended beyond his career as an artist. He was an explorer, scientist, and author.
Furlong, funded by Harper's magazine, traveled to Tierra del Fuego in
1907-08 where he mapped the region and collected data and ethnological
artifacts.(1) This work appeared as an illustration for an article authored by Furlong titled "The Southernmost People of the World." In it he writes, "So the Yahgan constructs his canoe of a heavy beech log and seeks the paths of least resistance (often venturing into the broad reaches of the sounds and the very oceans in search of stranded whales, seals, sea-otters, birds, and fish)."(2)

The lot is accompanied by a copy of the 1909 issue of Harper's Monthly magazine featuring "The Southernmost People of the World."

1. University of Oregon Libraries, Historic Photograph Collections: The Pendleton Group, Charles W. Furlong photographs
(
2. Harper's Monthly, June 1909, no. 709, p. 126.