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• E. Martin Hennings (American, 1886–1956)
• Date not known
• Oil paint on canvas
• William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, 2001.1147

The artists who settled in the Southwestern United States in the early 1900s were fascinated not only by the textiles and pottery fashioned by Indigenous peoples, but also by their lives. The girl in this painting is likely the daughter of an Indigenous parent, but there is nothing specific to identify her. The artist focused on the textile, while leaving the girl expressionless. Non-Indigenous artists depicted Indigenous peoples as immobile, stone-faced, and quietly enduring. Portraits like this, which fostered the misguided stereotype of the “stoic Indian,” were sent to the eastern cities to promote westward expansion and ultimately perpetuate stereotypes about Indigenous peoples.