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.

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

Historic Paddle Illustration: Another Krieghoff Print - Indian Wigwam...

Found another version of the C. Krieghoff painting, "Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada" first discussed in this 2010 post.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada

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

Source Link: McCord Museum

The Toronto Public Library has a flickr page documented some works in their Special Collections. While browsing around, I came across a brighter version of Krieghoff's original oil painting. This one is a lithograph redone with watercolours.

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848)

Lithograph, hand-coloured with water colours.

Creator: Cornelius Krieghoff, 1815-1872

Contributors:Thomas Kammerer; Andreas Borum, 1799-1853

Date: 1848

Source Link: Special Collections Toronto Public Library

Paddle Closeup

This colourful chevron pattern was the basis for Nigel's painted decoration on his Edenwood Northwoods paddle (see original post here).

Historic Paddle Illustration: C. Krieghoff - higher resolution image

Over the years I've posted on the various canoe-themed artwork of Cornelius Krieghoff (1815 – 1872). A 2010 writup discussed the paddle decoration on a well known painting - Indian Encampment at Falls.

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

Chevron Paddle Closeup

A relatively new online exhibit, Heritage Passages, features some more detailed full-sized images of historic Canadian artwork no longer in copyright. Among them is this same painting, albeit listed with a different title. Unfortunately, the high resolution image (3.2mb jpg) is in greyscale.

"Indian Bivouac at a Portage" a.k.a.
Indian Encampment at Falls.

Cornelius Krieghoff, Cornelius Krieghoff collection

Library and Archives Canada, accession number 1989-508-1, C-010693

Nonetheless, you can clearly make out the decorated paddle resting on the rolled pack cloth in the centre of the image, a further clue to the decorations on native paddles in this time period.

Paddle Closeup with rolled pack cloth

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

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

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!

Historic Paddle Art: C Krieghoff's Indians in the Employ of the Hudson's Bay...

Here's another historic painting featuring some basic paddle decoration. It is from Cornelius Krieghoff's 1858 work - Indians in the Employ of the Hudson's Bay Company at at Portage. Leaning on the rock is a paddle featuring some etched chevron markings

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

Cornelius Krieghoff - 1858

Art Gallery of Ontario - Toronto (Canada)  

Dates: 1858

Paddle Closeup

Historic Paddle Illustration: Krieghoff - Indian Family in the Forest

Here is another painting by Cornelius Krieghoff featuring a full view of a bobble-grip canoe paddle. This one is in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.

lndian Family in the Forest, 1851

Krieghoff, Cornelius 

Oil on canvas 

Mary Fry Dawson Bequest

44.7 x 66.6 cm

1954.1105

Source Link

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

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!