Historic Paddle Art: C. Krieghoff - An Officer`s Room in Montreal

Much has been written on the site of canoe related artwork of Artist Cornelius Krieghoff. A replica of the paddle illustrated in his 1848 Lithograph, Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada was finished back in 2017.

Here's another Krieghoff painting featuring a historic paddle design. "An Officer`s Room in Montreal" (1846) features a a busy scene of a room filled with objects related to Canadiana: skates, snowshoes, fishing gear, furs, etc. The painting is believed to represent the quarters of Andrew Aylmer Staunton, an assistant surgeon with the Ordnance Medical Department assigned to the Royal Artillery in Montreal from 1845 to 1848.

Officer's Room in Montreal

Cornelius Krieghoff

Date: 1846/1846

Physical Dimensions: w63.5 x h44.5 cm

Medium: oil on canvas

Provenance: Gift of the Sigmund Samuel Endowment Fund, 1954

Royal Ontario Museum 

Accession Number: 954.188.2

Source Link

Resting on the fireplace mantle is a model bark canoe with high pointed ends typical of the era. It is likely Kreighoff used this model to paint the full sized canoes used in many of his imagined scenes of indigenous life. 

Model Canoe

Tucked behind the sitting Officer appears to be a inverted canoe paddle with a long slender blade and a definite ridge in the centre. Unfortunately, the grip of the paddle is obscured by the positioning of the chair that the officer is sitting on. However, a clear pattern of decoration extending down the shaft and up to the midpoint of the blade shows a contrasting red and blue pattern. There also appears to be a sort of black leafy pattern on the central part of the blade. Although Kreighoff painted many repetitive scenes with decorated paddles in his works, I've never come across this same decoration pattern.

Closeup of inverted paddle

Paddle Art: S.C. Shaw - THE PADDLE MAKER

Here's a lovely piece of canoe themed art by Canadian Artist, Stuart Clifford Shaw (1896-1970) sold in a 2007 Waddington's Auction.

THE PADDLE MAKER

Stuart Clifford Shaw

Oil on Masonite (14” X 10”)

Source Link

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

Historic Paddle Illustration - Chestnut Canoe Paddles

Before the company was incorporated in 1907 as the Chestnut Canoe Co. Ltd., canvas canoes were being manufactured by R. Chestnut & Sons, an established hardware business in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The company also manufactured two styles of paddles which were effectively copies of what was being offered by the B.N. Morris Canoe company of Veazie, Maine at the time.

The earliest known advertisement for these "Chestnut" paddles appeared on page 12 of the April 11, 1906 issue of the The Daily Gleaner. The same ad ran for several issues during the spring of 1906 

Source Link

Years ago, a relatively rare R.Chestnut & Sons paddle came up for sale by Blanchard's Auctions (see original post HERE). Not sure who purchased by the paddle appears to be the wider tipped blade featured on the left on the ad.

R. Chestnut & Sons paddle on Right

The paddle included a red oval decal oddly positioned on the grip area. Here is a closeup...

Historic Paddle Photo: Carving a paddle in camp

A post on Worthpoint.com features a stereograph by A.L. Hinds of Benton, Maine. Titled as " Boom House, Ambijegis Lake", the image was captured in the 1870s. It features a man in the centre of the frame carving a canoe paddle with what looks to be a small pocket knife. The paddle has very squarish lines, much easier to carve than the typically curved paddles of the Penobscot people in the region.

Image Source Link

Historic Paddle Illustration: Satchwell - View of Montreal Harbour

Another historic illustration from the Toronto Public Library. On the bottom right corner is a bark canoe being paddled by two native occupants. Note how the paddles are being gripped...

View of the Harbour, Montreal, Quebec

Leney, William Satchwell (1769-1831) after Picture, 1830, English

Source Link

Historic Paddle Image: Northeast Carry Camp

Here's another image (originally a stereoview) from A. L. Hinds of Benton, Maine. It is a Penobscot camp labelled as being near the North East Carry in Maine's famed Moosehead Lake region.

Source Links: Found originally on Worthpoint.com but also listed on Ruby Lane. 

White tourists are posing with members of the camp. Full sized paddles and large rolls of birchbark, likely for canoe construction, appear resting against the shelter on the far left. In the center frame, a guide holds up his paddle in and inverted manner providing a fantastic frontal view of the shape.

A further identical copy with zoomable features is found at the UMaine's Digital Commons library. The details in the description mention the image is from a set entitled  "Scenery in Northern Maine, Moosehead Lake series". This is image number 10, captioned "Indian Camp, (North East Carry)."

Historic Paddle Art - View of Point Levy from Quebec - 1832

Here's another historic piece of Art by Canadian artist, Robert Auchmuty Sproule (1799 - 1845). Sproule apparently came to Lower Canada in 1826 and settled in Montreal. An accomplished water-colourist, he began painting scenes of his his new home. Over the years he began a fruitful relationship with publisher Adolphus Bourne and many of his works were featured in guidebooks. In 1832, Sproule travelled downstream to do similar vista paintings of Quebec City. The image below is taken from the traditional native encampment across the river at Point Levy, a popular spot for many 19th painters (click here to see some of the alternate views).

 View of Quebec from Point Levi-1832 

Robert A. Sproule

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A closeup of Sproule's version features a paddle decorated with a red ZigZag motif down the blade...

This work by Sproule was also the basis for a lithograph done by William L. Walton (1830-1858) and now in the collection of the Toronto Public Library collection. It features crisper details but the paddle in this case is not decorated.

Quebec, Lower Canada, View of Quebec from Point Levy (Lauzon, Quebec)

Sproule, Robert Auchmuty, 1799-1845

Walton, William L. fl. 1830-1858, after

Picture, 1832, English

Provenance: Gift of J. Ross Robertson

Source Link

Frank B/ Mayer Sketches - Eastern Dakota Canoe Paddles, 1851

The historic sketchbooks of Frank Blackwell Mayer (1827-1899) utilised on his 1851 trip to  Minnesota Territory have been posted on Archive.org (link here). Mayer was a  Baltimore artist who  journeyed to Traverse de Sioux and Mendota on the Minnesota frontier to record meetings between United States officials and Indian tribes who were ceding title to much of Southern Minnesota and portions of Iowa and Dakota.

His first booklet (#40) contain sketches of the Missouri frontier, the Mississippi, St. Paul, and Kaposia. The next four books (#41-44) contain sketches made at Fort Snelling, Traverse des Sioux, and Mendota. They provide a visual record of Native American life of the era, particularly among the Eastern Dakota (Sioux). There are also sketches of voyageurs and the usage of both dugout and bark canoes.

Page 17 of sketchbook #41 features an image simply labelled "Canoe Paddle"which features slightly recurved shoulders, thick shaft, distinct spine running the full length of the blade and ending in a slightly pointed tip....

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Page 30 of the same sketchbook features another example of a Dakota warrior holding onto a paddle with recurved shoulders and pointed tip. The caption states, "Drawn near Fort Snelling".

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Historic Paddle Illustrations at Art.com

Art.com has a gallery page of artworks by Edwin Tappan Adney, the famed amateur ethnographer and canoe historian whose work eventually was published as The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Many of Adney's illustrations are there, including this artistic rendering of fur trade canoe ornamentation and a painted woodland paddle.

Source Link

Another great bark canoe and paddle sketch features Maliseet hunters calling a moose. It was featured in the St. Nicholas Vol XXIII - March 1896 - NO. 5 in an article entitled, "Their First Moose Hunt".

Lastly is a one of Adney notes featuring the carving details and decoration of a Penobscot paddle etched with a family of moose on the blade and floral designs at the throat and grip face. His scribbled notes mention that the paddle was found at the Sportman's Exhibition, Maine Exhibit, New York in 1897 and was possibly made by a St. John Indian living at Old Town, ME.

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Historic Paddle Illustration - Rindisbacher Print

Here's another historic artwork by Swiss artist Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834). This particular piece entitled  An Indian removing in the summer with his wife and family is now in the collection of the Library and Archives of Canada.

An Indian removing in the summer with his wife and family.

Rindisbacher, Peter, 1806-1834.

Library and Archives Canada,

Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana

Accession No. R9266-4116

MIKAN no. 3835262 (1 item)

Copyright : Expired

Source Link

Note that Rindisbacher portrays the male in the bow with his wife steering in the stern. As in other depictions of his artwork, the female is using a paddle with a bobble grip and holding it in the "broom sweeping" style of paddling.

Chippewa Canoe

Peter Rindisbacher

West Point Museum collection

Hopkins: Listing of Voyageur Art Work

Jeanne Doucette's blog post MÉTIS THROUGH THE EYES OF A LADY features most of the canoe-related artwork of Frances Anne Hopkins. Worth a look to see the images collected into one place. Clicking the image below will take you to the post.

Historic Paddle Illustration: American Turf Register - 1832

A previous post discussed a lithograph print by Swiss artist Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834) created during his journey to central Canada. Entitled Indians Gathering Wild Rice and Shooting Wild Fowl, a surviving copy is in the collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Indians Gathering Wild Rice and Shooting Wild Fowl, 1832

Peter Rindisbacher - Canadian (born in Switzerland), 1806–1834

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery

Acquired with funds from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Naylor

G-90-452

Source Link 

The print was originally published on page 57 of American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine (Vol. IV, No. 2, October 1832) now available on Archive.org.

Indians Gathering Wild Rice and Shooting Wild Fowl, 1832

Peter Rindisbacher - Canadian (born in Switzerland), 1806–1834
American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine
(Vol. IV, No. 2, October 1832)
Source Link

Closeup of Stern paddle using a bobble grip

Along with the image is a brief article submitted by a reader providing additional details. The language used is typical of the time and may be considered offensive by today's readers, but it still provides interesting details ...  

Mr. Rindisbacher's drawing represents an Indian shooting only, but they frequently combine shooting, fishing and gathering the wild rice (abounding in all the lakes and many of the rivers,) in one occupation; that is to say, an Indian family goes forth in a canoe with gun  and fishing gig, and the implements for gathering the rice. The head of the family sits in the bow with his gun and gig, the old lady in the stern with the paddle, and two (or one as the case may be,) squaws near midships, with sticks, two each, shaped something like wooden swords, and having left the shore, or arrived at the scene of operations, the labors commence. The canoe is paddled slowly along through the wild rice, which the two girls, by means of the sticks in their outside hands, bend over the canoe and strike off the rice with the sticks in their other hands, all this as the canoe moves on; at the same time the Indian shoots what game he can, or rather chooses, so plenty are the geese, ducks and brants, continually rising and swimming before him. If he discovers the wake of a large fish, the squaws are directed to suspend their labors in collecting the rice, and the canoe very cautiously follows the direction of him at the bow until he strikes the fish or gives up the chase. 

Preview of WHCA paddle display

I've been frequently mentioning the upcoming WCHA Assembly in Peterborough, Ontario taking place from July 17th to the 22nd. All of my paddle projects of late have been designs to form an outdoor display for this event. The display is now completed and will focus on  Historic Paddle Decoration to go along with my short presentation scheduled on July 21st.

For the display, I chose 10 examples of Woodland paddles previously discussed on this site which feature unique decorations as documented in historic artworks, manuscripts and museum collections. It needed to be portable for transportation so I started off with a metal sawhorse with collapsible legs. I have a set previously used to make a pair of elevated canoe cradles (post here).

Mastercraft folding metal sawhorse

A four foot piece of 1x10 pine was bolted on top and 10 little paddle stations were drilled out with a large spade bit. I also made a backing of sorts with some wood scraps on hand and painted the thing with excess black paint collecting dust in the basement supply.

Sturdy base with room for 10 paddles

Two, 2'x4' hardboard panels were used for the upper display and attach at the base with bolts and wing nuts for easy tightening. The boards were also painted black to serve as a backdrop. Images of various historic paintings were printed on thick cover paper, glued onto bits of scrap wood and then sealed with a slightly glossy varnish. These art panels were then attached to the hardboard with some industrial Velcro so they can be removed and reattached for transportation. Some of the art pieces were mounted on thick wood others on thin stock so they give the display a bit of a 3D feel. Hopefully, these will add some interesting context to the visitor.

Small panels of Historic Artworks

My two page article on the Schoolcraft paddle (Wooden Canoe - Issue 205, Vol. 41 No.1) has been put into a protective glass frame that can be removed and read for anyone who might be interested. Here is the final display all set up...

Completed display of 10 Historic Paddles

The 10 paddles selected for the display (left to right) are:
• Codex canadensis paddle
• circa 1750-1780 Algonquin Paddle
• Davies' paddle from 1788
• 1820 Schoolcraft Paddle
• McCord Museum Eastern Woodlands Replica
• circa 1850 CMC Eastern Woodland Paddle
• circa 1850 Mi'kmaq paddle from Anonymous
• Krieghoff paddle from Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada
• 19th century "Delaware" paddle
• Green Passamaquoddy paddle (Peabody Museum)

If any readers are planning to attend the Assembly, feel free to drop by to check out the display and say hi!

Anonymous Algonquin Couple Paddle Replica

Another unique paddle design replicated for the upcoming WCHA assembly  is from an illustration by an anonymous artist. Dated to between 1750-1780, the painting in the collection of the City of Montreal archive illustrates an Algonquin couple in period clothing.  The male figure holds a paddle over his shoulder.

Algonquine, Algonquin . - [ca 1750]-[ca 1780]

Ville de Montréal. Section des archives

CA M001 BM007-2-D27-P004

Source Link

The paddle has a fairly unique shape, a short blade design with recurved shoulders, a lengthy shaft and a distinct bobble shape grip. It seems very reminiscent of modern day SUP paddles hitting the market.

In any event, I had an idea to re-use an incomplete blank that was begun years ago and never finished. At the time, I used a narrow maple board and laminated some walnut edges to make a whitewater paddle with an experimental Battenkill Grip.

Laminating walnut edging

Original whitewater blank

In the end, I never really did much whitewater paddling and the finishing the blnk no longer became a priority. The short blade design seemed suitable to re-purpose into this display paddle but the overall shaft length was too short. So a simple shaft splice was done with some maple stock and the shaft extended. Here is a photo after the splice and with the blade roughly re-cut.

Ended up cutting the shaft down a bit more and used the bits to laminate a cube at the grip. The was eventually worked down to form a bobble grip similar to the original artwork. I had some blue and red Tremclad Rust paint on hand for the blade decoration, but ended up using a torch to burn the shaft and grip to a charred finish.  Here is the final result...

Circa 1750-1780 Algonquin Paddle Replica

Davies, Berczy & Armstrong paddle replica

Just completed another display paddle for the upcoming WCHA Assembly in Peterborough this summer. My presentation on Saturday July 21 will focus on decorative themes featured in various artworks over the centuries. One such pattern that consistently occurs in several artworks is the "checkerboard" pattern where the blade is painted in opposite quadrants, sometimes with additional decorative elements.

The earliest painting illustrating this pattern I could source is by British Artist, Thomas Davies (1737 - 1812). His painting entitled  A View near Point Levy opposite Quebec.. is dated to 1788 and features a standing figure holding a short canoe paddle decorated an alternating red pattern. The native group is thought to be Abenaki or Huron / Wendat based on the canoe designs and clothing.

A View near Point Levy opposite Quebec with an Indian Encampment, Taken in 1788 (1788 )

 Thomas Davies (1737 - 1812)

National Gallery of Canada (no. 6280)

Davies' Paddle Closeup

Decades later the red checkered pattern appears on a work by William Bent Berczy (1791 – 1873) entitled Indian Encampment near Amherstburg features a stylized shore scene. In the rear is a bark canoe and a set of decorated paddles lying on the ground.

Indian Encampment near Amherstburg, c. 1819-1830

William Bent Berczy

British, Canadian, 1791 - 1873

watercolour over graphite on wove paper

National Gallery of Canada (no. 39793)

A closeup reveals that one paddle looks to have a single side painted red while the one underneath has the diagonal checkered pattern with red paint. Given that the paddle grip was not depicted in the earlier work by Davies, I ended up using Berczy's illustration as the source for my reproduction.

Berczy Painted Paddle's Closeup

Then 30+ years later, the decorative element occurs again in multiple works of William Armstrong.


Hudson's Bay Store, Fort William c. 1860-1870 
William Armstrong
National Gallery of Canada (no. 30490)

Indians Completing a Portage

William Armstrong

1873 watercolor 

Library and Archives Canada, Mikan #2833414

Paddle Closeup (far right corner of original image)

The Distribution of the Government Bounty on Great Manitouling Island 1856

William Armstrong

Source Link 

Paddle Closeup (bottom left corner of original image)

Echoing the images portraying rather short paddles, I carved this one from an offcut of basswood. In the end it has a 21 inch blade and an overall length of 4 feet, making it quite suitable for one of my sons to use. It has a blunt, flattened grip as in the Berczy painting. On one side, I included the additional dot element from Davies' work in 1788 and on the other painted the simple checkered pattern found in later artworks of Armstrong.

  

Paddle Reproduction from Davies, Berczy and Armstrong

Codex Canadensis Odawa Paddle Replica - Part 2

For the upcoming WCHA assembly display showcasing various historical depictions of decorative paddles, I've decided to carve a reproduction from the remarkably illustrated manuscript, Codex canadensis, dated to circa 1700.

Representing one of the oldest decorative depiction of canoe paddles by an illustrator who actually journey through much of Eastern Canada, the  manuscript is believed to have been by Louis Nicolas , a French missionary who spent 11 years in Canada during the late-seventeenth century.  Nicolas was never trained as a formal artist so the proportions of his illustrations are not to scale. The paddle blades are also crudely drawn and not symmetrical but it is interesting to note that nearly all of his drawings show no discernible grip end. The true ethnographic value however is in the details. Many of the paddles feature lines, decorative dots, zig zags and other elements that echo the full body tattoo featured and described  on First Nations people of the period

The specific  paddle illustration I chose to replicate is depicted on Page 18 of the Codex canadensis. The upper canoe is labelled "Canot a loutaouase" - an Odawa (Ottawa) canoe. It has distinctly sharp ends along with various decorations on the hull. The accompanying paddle features a relatively broad, leaf-like blade with a tapering shaft ending in a pole grip.

p. 18, Fig. 23

Outaouase (Odawa) canoe and paddle

Source Link

Another wide basswood cutoff short was used for this paddle reproduction. In keeping with the more dated history of the original inspiration, the paddle was worked down with an axe and crooked knife and I was less careful about the symmetry with this one. The tapering shaft worked down to a pole grip and certainly feels strange to anyone used to perfectly round paddle shafts, a pear grip and a beavertail blade.

Basswood of course lends itself to wonderful shading with pyrography so I attempted to mimic Nicolas' original sketch with ink and quill with quick strokes of the heated wood burning tip. However,  In the original a portion of the upper throat is blocked by the bow of the canoe, so some artistic license was needed to fill in the masked areas. Here is the final result.

Reproduction of the circa 1700 Codex canadensis

Outaouase (Odawa) paddle

Historic Paddle Illustrations - More Verner

Here are two more images of decorated paddles from prolific artist Frederick A. Verner (1838 - 1926).

Frederick A Verner

Indians in a Canoe

Source Link

Frederick A Verner

Ojibwa Crossing Lake Nipissing with Cargo of Furs

Source Link

Codex Canadensis Odawa Paddle Replica - Part 1

One of the earliest recorded images of decorated woodland canoe paddles is from the remarkably illustrated manuscript,  Codex canadensis. A previous post (from way back in 2008) mentioned that Collections Canada has a site setup to view all the illustrations in this piece of Canadian heritage.

For many years, the Codex canadensis was attributed to Charles Bécart de Grandville (1675-1703), but given more historical evidence, this attribution is no longer considered valid. The manuscript is now believed to have been by Louis Nicolas , a French missionary who spent 11 years in Canada during the late-seventeenth  century. The codex is illustrated with 180 drawings of First Nations peoples, plants, mammals, birds and fish of Canada.

The Art Canada Institute has a wonderfully illustrated, free online book about the Jesuit Missionary and discusses details of his artwork.

Most relevant is the realization that the author was never trained an an artist so he copied the outlines of his figures from other sources, a practice common at the time. However, Nicholas took great care to illustrate details of his own observations, such as body tattoos, hairstyles, clothing as well as as accessories such as as the tobacco pouches, weapons and most relevant to this site, canoes and paddles. It is these details that make it a relevant ethnographic source for the time period.

Nicolas made all his drawings in pen and ink  using a feather quill. The ink commonly used at the time was iron gall ink from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources like oak. In its fresh state the ink had purple-black or brown-black colour, but over time, the the ink has taken on a warm nutty-brown shade. Some of the images were also carefully stained with a reddish watercolour.

Pages 15 to 18 of the manuscript contain the images of various tribal canoes and paddles.

 Page 15

Source Link 

 Page 15

 Source Link 

Quite interesting is that Nicholas illustrated the canoes and paddles with some painted decorations. Gunnels on the canoes were stained red, a feature that is also present on many surviving model canoes from decades later, like the Neuchatel Model. Paddles were also enhanced with common red colour, easily available as either native ochre earth paints or as a trade item such as Vermillion powder.

Since Nicholas was never trained as a formal artist, the proportions of his illustrations are not to scale. The paddle blades are also crudely drawn and not symmetrical but it is interesting to note that nearly all of his drawings show no discernible grip end.

The paddle illustration I chose to replicate is depicted on Page 18 of the Codex canadensis. The upper canoe is labelled "Canot a loutaouase" - an Odawa (Ottawa) canoe. It has distinctly sharp ends along with various decorations on the hull. The paddle features a relatively broad, leaf-like blade with a tapering shaft ending in a pole grip.

Close-up of Fig. 23

Outaouase (Odawa) canoe and paddle

Source Link

I have a short piece of basswood stock that seems perfect for this reproduction. More in another post...

UPDATE: Outaouase paddle has been carved and completed. Click HERE for the link.