Object details
Accession number
U27e820
Primary Creator
Samoan
Full title
John LaFarge's Walking Stick
Creation Date
about 1890
Object Case
Modern Painters And Sculptors Case
Provenance
Collection of Talo, a Samoan tulafale or orator.
Gift from Talo to the painter John LaFarge (1835-1910) in Samoa in 1890-91.
Gift from Grace Edith Barnes (active New York, about 1896 - about 1920) to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1911.
Dimensions
96.52 cm (38 in.)
Display Media
Coconut or breadfruit wood
Web Commentary
A Samoan islander gave this walking stick to artist John LaFarge during his journey throughout the South Pacific between 1890 and 1891. Years later, when LaFarge visited Isabella Stewart Gardner at her museum, he pointed to a display case in the Long Gallery and said “There! That is where this stick...should be some time.” After LaFarge’s death, she enshrined his “favorite stick & great companion” in the spot he had indicated.
Permanent Gallery Location
Long Gallery
Rights and reproductions
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