Tobacco Bag

Cree
Subarctic

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late 19th-early 20th century

Glass and brass beads, cloth, and leather

Overall: 23 1/4 × 6 5/16 in. (59 × 16 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Bequest of Frank C. and Clara G. Churchill

46.17.9881

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

19th century

Object Name

Personal Gear: Bag

Research Area

Native American

Native American: Subarctic

On view

Label

Flowers wrap around this tobacco bag made by a Cree woman at the turn of the 20th century. Their design appears modern, almost evocative of floral designs from the 1960s and 1970s, which suggests the longstanding Indigenous influence on American art and design. While rarely understood by colonizers, flowers harbored and continue to harbor important meanings and associations for many Native peoples. Beads imported from Europe and designs adapting European styles reflect the interchange of cultural traditions while preserving Indigenous knowledge systems.

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

Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), Turtle Mountain, North Dakota, probably 1905; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

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