Gustaf Dalstrom

Gustaf Dalstrom (1893–1971) was an American artist and muralist. From 1927, he served as president of the Chicago Society of Artists. The Great Indian Council - 1833 can be viewed in the current location of the South Loop Post Office in Chicago, Illinois.

Early life Gustaf Dalstrom was born January 18, 1893, in Gotland, Sweden and died in Chicago, 1971. He attended Lane Technical High School in Chicago and went to college at the Art Institute of Chicago. There, he studied under George Bellows and Randall Davey (1887-1964), two prominent artists of that time.

Works

Dalstrom was the supervisor for the mural division and administrator for the Illinois Federal Art Project. He also painted 9 murals for the state hospital in Manteno, Illinois and three more for Illinois Post Offices. One mural for a post office in Herrin, Illinois from 1940, was entitled, George Rogers Clark Conferring With Indians Near Herrin. Another mural was The Great Indian Council - 1833.

The Great Indian Council-1833 The Great Indian Council - 1833, was a painting originally commissioned for the Chestnut Street Post Office at 840 North Clark Street. It was stated that both murals would be hung in the Main Post Office on 433 West Van Buren Street, but the US Postal Service vacated the Van Buren building in 1995. The Main Post Office, now known as the Old Chicago Main Post Office, was bought by Bill Davies for seventeen million dollars on October 21, 2009. As a consequence The Great Indian Council - 1833 had to be moved yet again because the US Postal Service owns the murals and is required to care for them.

Subject The subject of The Great Indian Council - 1833 was the Treaty of Chicago, which was signed September 26, 1833. Illinois had entered the union as the twenty-first state and southern Illinois had been settled in by the frontier settlers. Northern Illinois was still inhabited by Native American tribes by this time from 1818. The Black Hawk War of 1832 terrified Northern settlers and they wanted to claim northern Illinois as their own. The Chicago Treaty, also known as the Great Indian Council, stated that the Potawatomi, Chippewa, and the Ottawa Native American tribes had three years to leave their territory from the Rock River in Illinois to the Grand River in Michigan and One hundred thousand dollars as well. These three tribes were the last Native Americans to leave Illinois. The Native Americans did not agree to leave until 1833.

Location The Great Indian Council - 1833 can be viewed in the lobby of the Loop Station Post Office, located at 211 South Clark Street. Its original pair, Advent of the Pioneers, can be viewed at the post office located at 433 West Harrison Street. It is unknown why the two murals are not paired together today.