South Sea Islanders

1826–61
Not on view
This unusual picture shows the complex compositions that Edouart’s silhouette cutting could achieve. The work features various natives, wearing animal skins and headdresses and holding arrows, spears, and flutes, as well as a mother and child, in a vast, tropical landscape replete with huts in the background. The central violent scene shows two men engaged in a brutal battle with weapons. While it is unknown whether Edouart ever visited such an island, records verify that much of his life was spent traveling the Anglo-European world.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: South Sea Islanders
  • Artist: Auguste Edouart (French, 1789–1861)
  • Date: 1826–61
  • Medium: Cut paper with wash
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 10 1/2 x 13 7/16 in. (26.7 x 34.2 cm)
  • Classifications: Cut Paper, Ephemera
  • Credit Line: The Glenn Tilley Morse Collection, Bequest of Glenn Tilley Morse, 1950
  • Object Number: 50.602.1377
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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