Savvy Collector » Patrick DesJarlait

About the Artist

(1921-1972) Many of us are familiar with DesJarlait's commercial art creations without realizing it. Mr. DesJarlait was responsible for the Hamm's Blue Ribbon Beer bear as well as the Land O'Lakes butter maiden. Likely his involvement with animation while working for Disney Studios helped to shape his ability to create lovable characters.

Often his paintings depict endearing individuals carrying out activities aligned with his culture, that of the Red Lake Objiwe. One iconic activity DesJarlait is known for depicting is wild rice harvesting, utilizing birch bark containers.

Another influence easily recognized was his work teaching art among Japanese Americans. This experience lent another aesthetic evident in each painting's composition. One does not experience any extraneous elements in his paintings. His paintings present balanced, colorful snapshots of life as he experienced it, amounting to visual sharing and informing.

The artist's Indian name is Nagabo, which means Boy of the Woods.

The majority of his paintings are now in the collections of museums, private collections and major business entities such as the U.S. Department of Interior, the Minnesota Historical Society and General Mills. The Heard Museum acquired the artist’s last painting, even though it was roughly 85% completed. A three year traveling exhibition of DesJarlait’s paintings visited prominent locations in the United States as well as Canada and New Zealand (1992-1995). In 1994 a retrospective of Patrick’s career was staged in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Artwork by Patrick DesJarlait

About the Artist