Lot 97: George Winter (1810-1876)

Eight Potawatomi Women
oil on canvas laid down on masonite
28 x 24 in. (71.1 x 61 cm.)

Indiana Historical Society, The Journals and Indian Paintings of George Winter 1837-1839, Chicago, Illinois, 1948.
S. Cooke, et al., Indians and a Changing Frontier -- The Art of George Winter, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1993.

The artist.
By descent to his great grandson, Cable Gordon Ball, Indiana.
By bequest to his wife, Evelyn O. Ball.

George Winter first traveled to the central Wabash valley of Indiana in 1837. At this time, "the northern half of the state still contained large numbers of Potawatomi...although all of these tribes previously had relinquished their claims to most of their lands north of the Wabash, they still occupied numerous small individual or village reservations, and many held a deep emotional attachment to the region...although state and federal officials had attempted to remove them west of the Mississippi, the Potawatomis...clung tenaciously to their homeland, steadfastly refusing both the threats and the promises of the government" (S.E. Cooke et al., Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1993, p. 23)

Unlike his contemporaries Winter did not believe that the Potawatomi were barbaric, instead he was fascinated by the tribe and attuned to their sophisticated culture. He tried to portray in his various paintings, sketches and journals that they, "had proven remarkably adaptive and had combined traditional tribal values with many new ideas offered to them by Europeans." (Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter, p. 23) The clothing of the Potawatomi in these four works reflects their acculturation their shirts and jackets are distinctly European, yet their head scarves are traditional.

"Most historians would agree. Winter's sketches and paintings are the best visual record of Native American life in Indiana during this period, and indeed, his depictions of Indain costumes and daily life are unsurpassed for the Potawatomis." (Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter, p. 37)