Artist

Ross Allen, Sr.

born Fifield, WI 1915-died 1993
Media - portrait_image_113739.jpg - 89874
Courtesy Art Kimball.
Also known as
  • Rosewell Gabriel "Ross" Sr.
Born
Fifield, Wisconsin, United States
Active in
  • Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

This fish decoy was probably carved by Ross Allen Sr. of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwa Nation in Wisconsin. He gave his decoys glass eyes, and sometimes tinted them with a red-orange varnish to attract larger fish (Kimball, The Fish Decoy, vol. I, 1986). Allen also taught his son, "Little Ross" Allen Jr., to carve decoys used for ice fishing during the cold winters in Wisconsin (Art and Brad Kimball, Fish Decoys of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibway, 1988).