"Oomiak, or woman's boat"
George P. Critcherson
American, 1823–1892
John L. Dunmore
American, 1833–1897
William Bradford
American, 1823–1892
1869
An albumen silver print depicting an oomiak—a traditional Inuit “woman’s boat”—made to document Arctic life and material culture for a 19th‑century audience.
A small sepia photograph, printed and pasted into the book page, shows a low skin-covered boat pulled up on a rocky shore with figures standing nearby and a pale, distant mountain behind, its quiet clarity stressing the craft’s form and use.
Dating from 1869, the image is an early piece of ethnographic photography that helped record and transmit knowledge of Indigenous technologies and northern landscapes to scientific and public audiences while illustrating the albumen print’s central role in 19th‑century visual culture.
Medium
Albumen silver print from a glass negative
Dimensions
3 × 4 3/8" (7.7 × 7.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Transferred from The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Accession
466.1981.24
Palette
Exhibitions
