Flared Rimmed Basket with Handle (Non-Traditional Form)

Label

Born to an Unangax̂ (Aleut) mother and Russian father, Aleksandra Reinken wove floral designs into this basket to entice White tourists such as Frank and Clara Churchill, who purchased this work directly from the artist and later gave it to the Hood Museum. Reinken sourced the rye grass locally and purchased the silk comprising the flowers from Chinese or Japanese ships trading on Unalaska Island. This flared basket decorated with pink and red roses on green silk stems reflects the convergence of cultural traditions in Alaska at the turn of the 20th century.

From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Exhibition History

Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - late 2025.

Provenance

Made by Aleksandra Kudrin Reinken (1859/60-1909; "Mrs. Adolf Rankin"), Unalaska for sale; sold to Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), Unalaska, Alaska, September, 1905; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

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