Historic Paddle Art - Cornelius Krieghoff Illustration

While searching through the Library & Archives of Canada site for historical art, I came across some more work of renowned Canadian artist, Cornelius Krieghoff (1815 – 1872) which featured a highly decorated, chevron-themed paddle. Difficult to spot in the tiny pic, but the paddle is at the lower right of tree, leaning nearly horizontally on a canvas roll pack.


Indian Encampment at Falls
Date: post 1846
Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-508-1


Chevron Paddle Closeup

Another more detailed Krieghoff painting which shows a similarly chevron decorated paddle is one of his classic works, Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada.


Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada.
1848
Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-511-1


Paddle closeup
If this latter painting looks familiar, it's because it is identical to that in McCord Museum collection that I posted on earlier. It seems that these chevron decorations are a common feature in many historical paintings. Not known is whether this image is based on historically accurate representation or whether Krieghoff took liberties with the painting based on previous images in historical texts

Krieghoff 1848 Paddle Replica

Work has been progressing on a paddle replica based on the artwork of Cornelius Krieghoff. As mentioned in this previous post, Krieghoff made an oil in 1847 entitled " Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada"  which featured a brightly coloured paddle blade with a chevron motif. 

Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)
1847, 19th century

M19893
Source Link

Curiously, Krieghoff never painted a paddle shaft extending into the background which gives the image a bit of distorted look. Still, the vibrant colours on the blade make for a uniquely decorated paddle image. 

Paddle Blade Closeup

I'm not the first person to replicate this sort of decoration. Blog reader, Nigel, used this pattern to decorate the blade of his Edenwood Northwoods Paddle back in 2012 with lovely results.

Nigel's Decorated Blade

Nigel's Decorated Edenwood Paddle

In 1848, Krieghoff created another piece based on his original oil with some minor modifications. The image was retitled, " Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada" and was used to create a lithograph for publication. In Krieghoff's updated version, a decorated shaft and pronounced ball shaped grip are now in view. The artist also decided to reverse the chevron pattern on the blade so that the decorations are now "pointing" up towards the grip rather than down towards the blade tip. Many of these greyscale lithographs were subsequently hand coloured by other artists resulting in subtle variations of the decorative pattern. Those variations were discussed thoroughly in this post here.

For my version, a decision was made to decorate one side according to the dominant pattern found in my research - a repeating Red - Blue - Yellow pattern on one side, much like the version in the National Gallery of Canada.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff
Lithograph with watercolour on wove paper

National Gallery of Canada

Credit line: Gift of Donald Maclaren, Ottawa, 1990
Accession number: 30820

Source Link

The carving photos were part of the extensive set lost on a damage memory card, but I was able to shape a small bobble grip and did my best to approximate the blade shape from the artwork. Painting has never been my strong suit, especially colour matching and mixing. In the end, I just used some Tremclad paints that were available in small sample sizes to capture the spirit of the original, gaudily decorated paddle.

Krieghoff Paddle Replica

On the alternate side, I decided to deviate a bit and follow the pattern found on the copy of the  Toronto Public Library Special Collections Archive

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Creator: Cornelius Krieghoff, 1815-1872

Contributors:Thomas Kammerer; Andreas Borum, 1799-1853

Identifier: 022kieghoff-inidan-wigwam

Rights: Public domain

Gift of the Bain family - 2008.

Courtesy: Toronto Public Library

This coloured lithograph has  more significant pattern change. The chevron pattern is Yellow - Red - Blue - Red - Yellow - Blue and the banded decoration on the shaft has been replaced with an all red.  A decision was made use a different, brighter blue for this side. Again not even close to a colour match on the original, but it was the best I could do.

Krieghoff Paddle Replica  - alternate side

Historic Paddle Art: C. Krieghoff: Untitled Oil with Chevron Paddle

The Galerie Bac's web gallery of Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) features a rare painting by the Canadian Artist. The untitled and undated oil showcases a shoreline camp scene with bark wigwam, a canoe and a slender paddle blade with a simple chevron motif on the blade.

Untitled

Cornelius Krieghoff

Date Unknown

12"x17"

Paddle Closeup

Krieghoff's other works containing paddle imagery (see all posts HERE) continue the motif. One other specific work, Indians in the Employ of the Hudson's Bay Company at a Portage (1858) also features a paddle with a similar chevron decoration.

 Indians in the Employ of the Hudson's Bay Company at at Portage

Cornelius Krieghoff - 1858

Paddle Closeup

Artist Profile: John Buxton's Paddle Art

As a bit of a new diversion on the site, I thought I'd begin a series of posts profiling living artists who produce wonderful works of historical art featuring unique paddles designs.

John Buxton is a historical artist whose stunning works illustrate a time when birchbark canoes plied the waterways of North America. Three of John's pieces from his historical vignettes gallery feature some marvelous canoes and decorated paddles.

Below is piece entitled "New Canoe". He captures the eloquent lines and tumblehome of the bark canoe with a personalized bear claw decoration on the bow. The angular paddle being used features straight lines and a thick spine running the length of the blade.


"New Canoe"
Another piece entitled "The Agile Bark Canoe" shows a set of canoes being loaded with muskets and gear. The native in the foreground is paddling a similarly shaped paddle as the "New Canoe" but with chevron etchings at the throat and shoulders, echoing the chevron-theme decoration seen in many other historical paintings, especially that of Frederick Verner.


"The Agile Bark Canoe"
My favorite is "Dry Mocassins" which shows a solitary canoeist with his gear laid out on the rocky shoreline - very reminiscent of the Canadian Shield where I paddle. The two paddles in the foreground include another with a red chevron decoration and some curved, abstract patterns on one side of the blade. The 2nd non-decorated paddle looks very consistent with some of the Iroquois paddles on display at the Royal Ontario Museum - wide rounded tip, lengthy spine and short, flattened grip style.


"Dry Moccasins"
Many thanks to John for the permission to reproduce these stunning prints on the site. Be sure to visit his page BuxtonArt.com for more of these historical masterpieces.

Historic Paddle Illustrations - Champlain

From The voyages and explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1616 Vol. 2 comes one of the earliest recorded images of a North American paddle I could find. The PDF version (11mb) of his book has a black and white illustration of a native woman (Fig. B) holding onto a child with one hand while grasping chevron decorated paddle with the other.


Champlain's illustration of Native dress
Another illustration I found adds some colour to the original sketch. It is a zoomed versin of Champlain's Carte Geographique de la Nouvelle France (1612). It essential recreates the characters and reproduces the paddle decoration with red and yellow stripes.


Colour version of Champlain's original illustration
This chevron pattern seems to be a common motif as I've seen it in a couple other historic texts. More posts on that to come.

Krieghoff Comparison: Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada 1848

Another replica I've been itching to do for quite some time is the brightly coloured paddle featured in the Cornelius Krieghoff piece, "Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada" dated to 1848. I first wrote about this paddle way back in 2010 when casually researching historic images. Since then I've read biographies about Krieghoff to learn a bit more about his inspiration and potential accuracy of his images.

The McCord Museum in Montreal has an original oil by Krieghoff dated to 1847 entitled " Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada".  In it we see a canoe with highly bent ends, bark wigwams in the background and a group of people in the front. Seated on a log with his back to the viewer, a man is holding a paddle decorated with brightly coloured chevrons.  Unfortunately in this image there is no visible shaft, giving the paddle a bit of a distorted look.

Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)

1847, 19th century

M19893
Source Link

The next year in 1848, Krieghoff created another piece based on this image with some minor modifications. The image was retitled, " Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada" and was used to create a lithograph for publication. Multiple copies of these lithographs were distributed around the world over the years and have often come up for auction. An example is the following image by William Reese Company.

INDIAN WIGWAM IN LOWER CANADA.

Krieghoff, Cornelius:

[Montreal: R. & C. Chalmers, 1848]. Lithograph, 15 x 20 inches (visible portion).

 Item #WRCAM32676

Source Link

In Krieghoff's updated version, the shaft and bobble shaped grip of the paddle are now in view, eliminating the missing distortion in the previous work. Krieghoff also decided to reverse the chevron pattern on the blade so that the decorations are now "pointing" up towards the grip rather than down towards the blade tip. In order to enhance the appearance of greyscale lithographs, many were subsequently coloured by other artists resulting is slightly different renditions of the paddle decoration.

The McCord Museum also has one of these painted lithograph prints. The coloured bands on the blade and shaft follow a Red - Yellow - Blue sequence from the tip upwards.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada

Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)
About 1850, 19th century

Purchase from Kennedy Galleries
M976.71.2
Source Link

Another version now in the National Gallery of Canada (uploaded to Wiki Commons) is a more brightly coloured version with the same decoration pattern.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff
Lithograph with watercolour on wove paper

National Gallery of Canada

Credit line: Gift of Donald Maclaren, Ottawa, 1990
Accession number: 30820

Source Link

The Toronto Public Library Special Collections Archive also contains a version. This one has a more significant pattern change. The chevron pattern is Yellow - Red - Blue - Red - Yellow - Blue and the banded decoration on the shaft has been replaced with an all red.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Creator: Cornelius Krieghoff, 1815-1872

Contributors:Thomas Kammerer; Andreas Borum, 1799-1853

Identifier: 022kieghoff-inidan-wigwam

Format: Picture

Rights: Public domain

Gift of the Bain family - 2008.

Courtesy: Toronto Public Library

Source Link

Canadian Auction House Waddington's had a print for sale back in 2016. This one has the Red - Yellow - Blue banded pattern on the shaft culminating in a red bobble grip. The blade has a curious pattern of Red - Yellow - Blue then a plain or natural looking band again followed by a  Yellow - Blue - Red.

Lot 59:  Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Waddington's

November 21, 2016

Toronto, ON, CA

Source Link

The version on Artnet Auctions has a Yellow - Red - Blue pattern on the blade. The shaft however is decorated with the alternating pattern of thick yellow bands followed by thin red lines.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Artnet Auctions

Source Link

A final version is in the collection of the Library and Archives of Canada. This one has a blade pattern of Yellow - Red - Blue repeating up the shaft.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-511-1

Copyright: Expired

MIKAN 2836651

Source Link

March 2018 Update: My reproduction of this paddle has been completed. See HERE for that post.

Historic Illustration - Champlain Paddle Picture

Here's another image of the paddle featured in The voyages and explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1616. It contains one of the earliest recorded images of a North American paddle. Figure B illustrates a woman holding onto a child with one hand while grasping chevron decorated paddle with the other.


As far as I can tell, it is one of the oldest images that features the chevron theme I've been consistently seeing in historic paddle art. One must wonder if future artists simply used Champlain's imagery to perpetuate this decorative feature or if it really was as abundant as it seems in art today. I'm still searching for surviving museum paddles with this theme but have yet to come across one.

For more editions of this image, including a colour version from another text, check out an earlier post on Champlain here.

Last of the Mohicans Film Paddles

Rich F maintains a website devoted to the film, Last of the Mohicans. Some of the behind-the-scenes photos from this epic picture include shots of decorated paddles used in the brief canoeing scenes.

The center paddler in this fiberglass war canoe replica has a brightly painted red beavertail with some added chevron stripes designs.


The stern paddler in this shot has another painted paddle with horizontal bands of color. Resting in the bow of the canoe in the foreground is the previously mentioned chevron decorated beavertail.


Apparently between takes, some of the crew were able to take the war canoes out for a spin. Here's a shot of them escaping with a piece of the set!


Also on the site is a blurry shot of the gunstock war club and paddle used by the character Chingachgook. Difficult to make out the details but the red bladed paddle seems to have an image of a snake crawling up the blade.


Chingachgook's War Club & a Canoe Paddle

Poplar Diamond Passamaquoddy - Part 4

Wow...this paddlemaking hobby really ground to halt lately with all sorts of distractions getting in the way. Well over a year ago in January, 2010, I started work on a Diamond Bladed Passamaquoddy replica from Adney's book.

It's been hanging in the den for quite some time desperately calling out to be decorated. Finding time to do intricate artwork with curious youngster at home has been impossible so to simplify things, I figured this paddle would be nice choice for some historic chevron themes seen in much of the artwork from when this paddle originated.

At first I thought it would be fun to get the little one involved by painting the paddle with the gaudy colours seen in the painting entitled, Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada by Cornelius Krieghoff (dated to 1847) pictured below:


Paddle Closeup
After getting all the supplies ready, suddenly he refused to paint! So instead I reverted back to pyrography to burn alternative light & dark chevrons onto the blade while also highlighting the angular edges of the flat-faced grip. A single line was burned down the shaft for added effect. This will likely be the last time I use yellow poplar as a paddle making wood. It may be a cheap wood stock and light weight but it also burns very unevenly for an extremely patchy and amateurish effect. At least now I can move on to the next project without the guilt of an unfinished one looming over my head.


Chevron decorations
While up north for a long weekend holiday, the boy grabbed his cedar bushcraft mini paddle and proceeded to slap around a beachball. I ended up grabbing this newly completed paddle and we killed some time with a rowdy game passing the ball back and forth. All the while, he kept excitedly saying, "I'm playing hockey!"...so it seems it seems I've done my Canadian duty as a father to instill love of our national obsession with a hint of canoeing tradition too.


Working on the backhand pass


Beach game of Paddle Ball

Historical Paddle Paintings - McCord Museum

Here are two interesting paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff in the collection of the McCord museum in Montreal. The essentially represent the same scene with subtle differences between them. In both, you can see a seated figure with painted paddle decorated in a chevron pattern, a seemingly common theme in many paddle paintings.

Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)
1847, 19th centurySource Link


Paddle Closeup
In another similar version, the shaft and bobble grip of the paddle are in view. Also noticed that the chevron pattern on the paddle is now "pointing" in the opposite direction.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada
Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872)
About 1850, 19th centurySource Link

Paddle closeup

Nigel's Krieghoff Paddle Replica

Paddle enthusiast Nigel acquired an Edenwood Northwoods paddle and decided to decorate the handcarved beauty with some artwork. With his permission, some photos of his work are posted here in addition to more details on the WCHA forum. He ended up inspired by the some of the Cornelius Krieghoff paintings at the McCord Museum in Montreal which feature a colourful chevron pattern.

 

Aboriginal Camp in Lower Canada Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) 1847, 19th century
Paddle Closeup


 
Nigel's Decorated Edenwood Paddle

Blade closeup

The grip area was decorated with a burned image a rabbit smoking a pipe, a native theme symbolizing confidence in the face of danger, popularized in the film The Edge.

Grip Closeup The cheerful colours and stunning contrast make the paddle highly visible and everyone will know who the paddle belongs to. I'm tempted to give pyrography decoration a break for a while and perhaps try some painting. Great work Nigel!

Verner Illustration - Auction

Found another canoe related painting by Frederick A Verner (February 26, 1836 – May 16, 1928), this time on the Sotheby's Auction's archive.


Canoes with Indians on a Lake

Frederick Arthur Verner
Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour
31 by 63cm., 12 by 24 3/4 in.
Signed lower right: Verner/1883
Estimate: 2,000—3,000 £
Sold: 5,040 £

Once again, Verner has illustrated the paddles with a distinct red chevron pattern, a common feature in his work.


Paddle Decoration Closeup

For other posts on Verner's work see this post from November 2009 and another post from September 2010.