Unidentified Figures

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Unidentified Figures

Date

Winter 1833/34

Dimensions

7 1/8 x 11 7/8 in. (18.1 x 30.16 cm.)

Medium

Graphite on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.221

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

The majority of the people depicted are playing a hoop and pole game, one of the most common and widespread of all North American Indian games. Played by men, it consisted of throwing or shooting projectiles through a hoop, with the score calculated on the basis of how they fell in relation to the target. There were tribal variations in equipment and rules. The Mandans and Hidatsas hurled poles at a hoop rolled on the ground or thrown in the air. The hoop was laced with a network of leather thongs, and winning presumably depended on where the pole pierced the network. Mandan and Hidatsa women played a game with a ball which they tossed and caught with the foot. This was an individual competition, not a team sport, and the woman who kept the ball in motion the longest without its touching the ground was the winner. The balls often were embroidered with dyed porcupine quills. The two men in this image are carrying poles or spears. A former label associated with the sketch suggested that they too are engaged in a Mandan or Hidatsa hoop and pole game.

References in Journal

Remarks on the Indian Tribe of the Mandans

Labels:

study , Mih-Tutta-Hangkusch

Approximate Depicted Location:

Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kusch, Mandan Village