Choosing of the Arrow

Henry Kirke Brown

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1848, Brown earned a commission for a statuette representing an Indigenous subject from the American-Art Union, a New York organization that distributed art to subscribers by annual lottery. To prepare for Choosing of the Arrow, he traveled to Michigan’s Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. His visit coincided with a gathering of Chippewa and Ottawa peoples, and he spent much of his time sketching them. The resulting sculpture, an idealized male nude reaching to draw an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back, reveals Brown’s exacting attention to detail in the subtle handling of the ribcage and the ornamental topknot.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art