Pushetonequa

Object NameCast

Artist / Maker Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Foundry ConservArt, LLC (American (Hamden, CT))

Date2007

MediumPainted plaster

Dimensions15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (39.4 x 29.2 x 3.2 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineCast by ConservArt, LLC. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Original held by the State Historical Museum of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.

Object numberU2007.29

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextLate in 1929, Petersen was asked by Edgar Harlan, curator of Iowa’s Historical, Memorial and Art Department, to produce portraits of these two Meskwaki leaders. Young Bear (1883-1960) traveled with Harlan to Chicago, where Petersen was living at the time, to sit for his portrait. Young Bear’s father, Pushetonequa, had died in 1919 so Petersen’s likeness of him must have been based on photographs and/or descriptions of his appearance. Petersen’s depiction of him is a vivid and intriguing one, displaying not only his facial features, but his personal adornments as well. These may well be based on Pushetonequa’s actual possessions since Harland was eager to document as many aspects as possible of Meskwaki life and culture. In addition, Petersen was later granted broad access to the Meskwaki Settlement at Tama when he drew the illustrations for a 1936 children’s book on the tribe, Cha-Ki-Ski, by Bessie Coon and Halla Rhode. Petersen himself seemed to have a particular regard for this relief. In 1930, he was interested in entering it and other work in juried competitions, but some of his work had been removed from his studio.