Artwork Details
- Title
- Old Arrow Maker
- Artist
- Date
- modeled 1866
- Location
- Dimensions
- 21 1⁄2 x 13 5⁄8 x 13 3⁄8 in. (54.5 x 34.5 x 34.0 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- marble
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — game — deer
- Occupation — craft — arrow maker
- Dress — Indian dress
- Indian
- Figure group
- Object Number
- 1983.95.179
Artwork Description
Old Arrow Maker depicts a scene from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855). This poem relies on romanticized tropes about Native peoples' lifeways as incompatible with modern life. Edmonia Lewis, an Afro-Indigenous artist who was raised by her Mississauga maternal aunts, capitalized on the broad appeal of Longfellow's poem. Longfellow was an abolitionist, and his work was popular among the same people who were Lewis's primary patrons.
Label text from The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture November 8, 2024 -- September 14, 2025