Dance of Indians at Mission in San Jose, New California

Dance of Indians at Mission in San Jose, New California

New California
California Missions
California,
Clothing
Discovery & exploration
Expeditions
surveys
Manners & customs
San Francisco Bay Area

Black and white drawing of six Indians with elaborately painted and tattooed bodies, wearing costumes and headdresses, dance in clearing near river. Possibly the earliest known view of Mission Indians in indigenous costumes at Mission San Jose, California. Showing missionaries, and European people how ‘the other half live.’ The aim was to colonize these people, who wore intricate head dresses, lived by their own traditions, and were used to a different way of life. Inscriptions at the bottom of the drawing are interestingly in German. Drawing of 6 Indians, each with body paint, and minimal clothing, enjoying the landscape and environment of California.

Tilesius von Tilenau, Wilhelm Gottlief (1769-1857), German, artist (attributed to) Langsdorff, Georg Heinrich von (1773-), German, artist

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material

http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf8j49p5fc
BANC PIC 1963.002:1023—FR

circa 1803-1807

Hannah Wiseman

Honeyman (Robert B., Jr.) - Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material

German

Visual - sketch

19th century California