Customer Reviews

Painting the Dakota: Seth Eastman at Fort Snelling

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Reviewed by Tyler Crogg; excerpts included: "Fortunately for us, Eastman captured in a series of watercolor and oil paintings the final decades of the Eastern Dakota tribe as an independent, self-sustaining nation in the Minnesota Territory... His works compete with the best ethnographic treatises for their particular detailing of American Indian culture. Lorbiecki, an award-winning children's book writer. . ., has presented the dual story of the Dakota people and the Army officer/artist who portrayed them, in a balanced and detailed style. The text mainly focuses on Eastman's relationship with the Dakota Nation and kin ... and his steady rise to prominence as a first-rate artist of the American frontier and Dakota Nation. Lorbiecki has judiciously spiced the text with Eastman's notes and Dakota oral histories....In Eastman's perspective, the Dakota were not just subjects for his canvas, but relations, friends, humans struggling to survive year to year. The selection of Eastman's works in this book documents the everyday essentials of life: women gathering wild rice, men hunting and ice-fishing, ceremonial dances, funeral and wedding rites. In this sense, Eastman is a Vermeer among American artists of indigenous peoples; he found beauty and meaning in the unnoticed and common acts of life .... The best test of a children's book is whether adults are entertained and informed as well. This is one of those books. An addition of a glossary and pronunciation guide for some of the Dakota terms and names would have been helpful, but overall, Lorbiecki's writing is precise. She handles complex historical topics, like the growing dependence of the Dakota on Anglo-American merchandise, and the regional Dakota-Ojibwe conflicts with clarity, and without oversimplification. Her portrayal of Eastman is honest. As a New Englander, he was not pleased with being so far from the artistic centers of New York and Boston, but he used his time at Fort Snelling to improve his talents and understand Dakota culture as well as any Anglo-American could. Lorbiecki will hopefully keep investigating and writing on historical, ethnic and environmental subjects she has covered in her past books. Her scholarship and style hold as much detail as one of Eastman's watercolors. PAINTING THE DAKOTA recreates a fascinating portrait of early Minnesota history, its original inhabitants and the man who painted their world."

This is an insightful book, aimed at a broad readership. With clear prose and striking paintings, it places Seth Eastman in context as an artist, by emphasizing his pioneering work painting "ordinary" Dakota men and women (rather than focusing on Native American leaders as Catlin and others had done). The author too focuses on everyday Dakota life, expertly using Eastman's paintings of sugaring time, traveling, etc. to emphasize points made in the text. I highly recommend this book.

Lorbiecki takes a great and fascinating subject, the Dakota images of Minnesota frontier soldier-and-artist Seth Eastman, and creates a dense, clouded picture of his situation and motives. Eastman's images are so strong, they could almost speak for themselves with careful assistance. Instead the text reads at an annoying mid-level: not clear enough for a young reader, yet oversimplified (some description of historic figures are plainly inaccurate) in content and concept for an advanced reader. It leaves one asking "Who is this book intended for?"

Lorbiecki takes a great and fascinating subject, the Dakota images of Minnesota frontier soldier-and-artist Seth Eastman, and creates a dense, clouded picture of his situation and motives. Eastman's images are so strong, they could almost speak for themselves with careful assistance. Instead the text reads at an annoying mid-level: not clear enough for a young reader, yet oversimplified (some description of historic figures are plainly inaccurate) in content and concept for an advanced reader. It leaves one asking "Who is this book intended for?"

Lorbiecki takes a great and fascinating subject, the Dakota images of Minnesota frontier soldier-and-artist Seth Eastman, and creates a dense, clouded picture of his situation and motives. Eastman's images are so strong, they could almost speak for themselves with careful assistance. Instead the text reads at an annoying mid-level: not clear enough for a young reader, yet oversimplified (some description of historic figures are plainly inaccurate) in content and concept for an advanced reader. It leaves one asking "Who is this book intended for?"