Collection: Seth Eastman

Seth Eastman (1808–1875) was an American artist, illustrator, and U.S. Army officer best known for his detailed depictions of Native American life, frontier forts, and the landscapes of the Upper Mississippi region. Born in Brunswick, Maine, he graduated from West Point in 1829 and combined his military career with a lifelong interest in drawing and ethnography.

Eastman served multiple assignments in the American frontier, including at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, where he produced hundreds of sketches and paintings documenting Indigenous communities and the natural environment. His works were later engraved for publications such as Henry R. Schoolcraft’s Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851–1857) and for government reports illustrating the geography and life of the expanding nation. Today, Eastman is regarded as one of the foremost visual chroniclers of 19th-century America’s western frontier.