Born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1808, Seth Eastman was a painter, as well as an officer in the U.S. Army. He received his artistic training at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Though known for landscapes and depictions of military posts, his reputation rests on descriptive, documentary paintings of Native American life.
This painting likely depicts women of the Yokuts tribe of the San Joaquin Valley, south of Sacramento, as they procure and transport grass seed, an important food source. The watercolors are based on drawings made by survey artist Edward Kern, but adapted for use as engravings in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s multivolume “Information Regarding the History, Conditions, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States”. Subtle details — such as foreground plants and rocks, and background oak trees, foothills and mountains — help identify the setting.
