Seth Eastman (1808-1875)

The following essay is from the 1982 publication Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern.

Seth Eastman was a successful military man whose love of drawing, first elicited in studies at the US Military Academy, gave birth to a parallel career, that of recording in innumerable drawings and paintings the customs, daily routines, and physical appearance of the American Indian. Assignment to duty in Florida brought him into contact with the Seminoles, and at Fort Snelling in Minnesota he lived close to the Sioux and Chippewa, taking advantage of leisure time to move among his subjects and document their ways. His close, respectful relations with the Indians prepared him to be both an efficient soldier and an effective artist-historian. Eastman was born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1808. Graduating from the Military Academy in 1829 he was stationed first in Wisconsin then at Fort Snelling. He next was transferred to topographical duty and spent time in Louisiana and Connecticut before returning as an instructor to the Military Academy where he took private lessons from C.R. Leslie and R.W. Wier. His work as a landscapist was exhibited from 1836-40 at the National Academy and the Apollo Gallery. Back on duty in Florida (1840) and Minnesota (1841-48) he concentrated his artistic efforts on Indian life. Eastman then transferred to Texas (1848-49) and later to Washington where he entered the office of Indian Affairs to work on illustrations for Indian Tribes of the United States. Later assignments took him to several other posts including Texas, Fort Snelling again, Utah, Washington, Cincinnati, Elmira, and Kentucky. In 1866 he was brevetted colonel and brigadier general. He received several commissions for Indian paintings before his death in 1875.

Steven A. Nash, Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern, September 26- November 14, 1982, (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts), 32.

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