Stenciled textile stage curtain, Erik Hans Krause, WPA project, 1939. Photo source: Reservation Centennial booklet, 1957. To view a larger version, look here.
Stenciled textile stage curtain, Erik Hans Krause, WPA project, 1939. Photo source: Reservation Centennial booklet, 1957. To view a larger version, look here.
Artist Eric Hans Krause was born in 1899 in Halle-Salle, Germany and moved to the United States in 1923. Beginning in 1936,
he worked for the WPA Federal Art Project as a supervisor in Rochester. Their work was primarily designing textiles
and posters. Krause was awarded the commission for a textile stage curtain to be installed in the auditorium of the Tonawanda
Indian Community
Building outside Akron, NY, constructed under the WPA in 1939.
The curtain temporarily re-installed for a special Tonawanda Reservation Historical Society weekend event, 1999. Photo courtesy of the Tonawanda
Reservation Historical Society and Terry Abrams.
The Reservation Centennial booklet interprets the scene on the curtain thus:
"In the center of the curtain is the Great Tree of Peace with its roots stretching north, south, east and west. Over the
tree hovers the eagle which watches over the fate of The Confederacy. Under the roots rests the turtle, symbol of the
creation of the earth. The Indian legend is that the earth rests on the back of the primal turtle. When the turtle grows
weary of holding the weight of the world, he shifts his position, causing earthquakes and floods. On either side of the
tree the feather dance is being performed. Around the bottom, in the center, is the great Wampum Belt, commemorating
the formation of the Iroquois League.The wampum design is from the Deyondanesontah, the Hand-in-Hand Dance,
which the Senecas performed after reaching an agreement for a peace treaty."
The curtain was removed in recent years and is in storgage, pending conservation.
Special thanks to Terry Abrams of the Tonawanda Reservation Historical Society for his very kind assistance.