hot pink wool with royal blue satin on front placket, at top of arms and one pocket flaps; gold epaulets on shoulders; gold bells hang around bottom hem; lining has black and white images; in center is woman below text with the heading "Treaty of 1808"; two oil well pumpjacks; wheat field on each side of inside lining with gold embroidery highlights; royal blue beaded word above each wheat field image; back has light blue/hot pink ribbon tied in bow at top

%C2%A9 Anita Fields

Wedding coat, 2019

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When delegations of Osage men traveled to Washington, D.C., for negotiations with the United States government in the early 1800s, they often received gifts of top hats and military regalia. The clothing often didn’t fit, however, so Osage women incorporated them into their wedding attire, modified to reflect an Osage aesthetic. They added silk ribbon work, finger woven yarn belts, and trade buttons to the coats, and brightly colored feather plumes and French ribbons to the hats.

Artist Anita Fields created this contemporary, artistic version of an Osage wedding coat to reference the issues that effect and define modern Osage people: colonization, oil economics, imposed archaic policies and treaties, versus an Osage belief system based on acknowledgement of nature, and a worldview reflecting their creation story.

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Details
Title
Wedding coat
Artist Life
American (Osage/Muscogee Creek), born 1951
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2019.42.1a-d
Curator Approved

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hot pink wool with royal blue satin on front placket, at top of arms and one pocket flaps; gold epaulets on shoulders; gold bells hang around bottom hem; lining has black and white images; in center is woman below text with the heading "Treaty of 1808"; two oil well pumpjacks; wheat field on each side of inside lining with gold embroidery highlights; royal blue beaded word above each wheat field image; back has light blue/hot pink ribbon tied in bow at top

© Anita Fields

Because of © restrictions, we can only show you a small image of this artwork.