Moccasins were created by women artists as part of their traditional role of preparing clothing for their families. The floral patterns stem from a number of sources: European decorative arts, printed cotton textiles, or as a result of the training American Indian women received at mission schools. Regardless of origin, floral patterns employed by artists on clothing and domestic objects were reconfigured and then incorporated as symbols of American Indian identity.
Artist Eastern Sioux, Native American
Title
  • Moccasins
Date ca. 1890
Medium buckskin, rawhide, fabric, and glass beads
Dimensions Overall (1988.31.A): 4 × 9 1/2 × 3 3/4 inches (10.2 × 24.1 × 9.5 cm)
Overall (1988.31.B): 3 1/2 × 9 7/8 × 3 1/2 inches (8.9 × 25.1 × 8.9 cm)
Credit Line Founders Society Purchase with funds from Flint Ink Corporation
Accession Number 1988.31
Department Africa, Oceania & Indigenous Americas
Not On View
James O'Donnell (South Dakota, USA);
purchased by Richard A. Pohrt [1911-2005] (Flint, Michigan, USA) and his wife, Marion D. Pohrt;
1988-present, purchase by Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
Penney, David W. Art of the American Indian Frontier: The Chandler-Pohrt Collection. Seattle and London, 1992, no. 120.