Sucker Fish DecoyLate 19th century3 × 9 3/4 × 3 3/4"Paint on wood with tin and leatherGift of the Beinecke Foundation, Inc., Barbara and John Robinson2000.3.10Gray/Brown/Bronze-colored painted surface
Belly unpainted wood
6 sheet metal fins (brass or tin); painted in similar colors to fish. Surface finely cross-hatched to resemble fish scales.
Eyes appear to be inserted objects (unknown material).
1540482675203.1Artist unidentifiedTools and EquipmentThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain. Lake ChautauquaLake ChautauquaUnited StatesNew YorkThree Dimensional WorksLake Chautauquadecoy
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgSculpture and Three Dimensional ObjectsPainted leather tail and painted metal fins. Glass eye.Decoys used for ice spearfishing can be traced to Native American prototypes. The fisherman built a shanty around a hole cut in the ice and waited in the darkened enclosure, ready to strike with his handheld spear as the target fish passed below, attracted by the shaped and painted decoy dangled in the water. The first major interest in this method, outside Native American and Eskimo cultures, occurred around Lake Chautauqua in western New York. Especially as hotels developed along the lake's shores, workers from the nearby furniture factories began to supplement their incomes by supplying the hotels, restaurants, and residents with fresh fish. Eventually this lead to commercial harvesting ventures that so depleted the lake stock that ice spearfishing was banned in the state in 1905. New York State decoys are most closely related to the earlier fish decoys carved by Native Americans, with simple forms and somber colors. They often have fins made from a single piece of tobacco tin or other recycled metal that was passed through a slit in the decoy body. The defining characteristic of New York State fish decoys, however, is the addition of leather tails.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Sucker Fish Decoy," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 368–369.203.118701899 2000 3 1 decoy
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgSculpture and Three Dimensional ObjectsPainted leather tail and painted metal fins. Glass eye.Decoys used for ice spearfishing can be traced to Native American prototypes. The fisherman built a shanty around a hole cut in the ice and waited in the darkened enclosure, ready to strike with his handheld spear as the target fish passed below, attracted by the shaped and painted decoy dangled in the water. The first major interest in this method, outside Native American and Eskimo cultures, occurred around Lake Chautauqua in western New York. Especially as hotels developed along the lake's shores, workers from the nearby furniture factories began to supplement their incomes by supplying the hotels, restaurants, and residents with fresh fish. Eventually this lead to commercial harvesting ventures that so depleted the lake stock that ice spearfishing was banned in the state in 1905. New York State decoys are most closely related to the earlier fish decoys carved by Native Americans, with simple forms and somber colors. They often have fins made from a single piece of tobacco tin or other recycled metal that was passed through a slit in the decoy body. The defining characteristic of New York State fish decoys, however, is the addition of leather tails.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Sucker Fish Decoy," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 368–369.