I couldn't see a name on the narrowboat I showed yesterday but it did have this lovely picture painted on the side: horses and a handsome native American Indian in a fine feather warbonnet headdress. I know shockingly little about American Indians, apart from what you see on cowboy films. Just googling for information about the headdress is very interesting. The feather bonnets are worn by chiefs and warriors of only about a dozen tribes and are made of eagle tail feathers. They have a spiritual and ceremonial significance; each feather has to be earned by an act of bravery. So this man must be courageous as well as handsome. Who knows why he is painted on a narrowboat in Yorkshire? Interesting, anyway.
nice one - blue is my favourite!
ReplyDeleteIt's possible the owner comes from that background, but if not, I think painting this is okay. It's people who try to wear a headdress like that who get into trouble- some fashion houses have tried incorporating aboriginal motifs into runway shows and ended up getting a lot of flak for it.
ReplyDeleteThe feather war bonnets were worn by Plains Indians -- the ones you mostly see in Cowboy/Indian movies. The Eastern and far Western Indians never wore them but here in North Carolina on the Cherokee reservation, some men used to wear them to pose for pictures with tourists, They called it "Chiefing" as in -- "Made fifty bucks today chiefing."
ReplyDeleteOh well spotted Jenny, there must be a connection here somewhere for the owners or maybe the previous owners. It's a very well executed painting, love the horses in the foreground.
ReplyDelete