Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson with decorative trade signs, Cadillac, Michigan, 1945

Born of Swedish parents in 1894, Oscar Peterson was an outdoorsman who spent his youth hunting and fishing in the lower Michigan Peninsula. He eventually settled in Cadillac, Michigan and was active as a wilderness guide in the area all his life. Peterson's involvement with decoys began as a child and continued his entire life. He spent nearly fifty years carving and painting with a fluency, industry and imagination unique to the art form.

Oscar Peterson / Early Brown Trout
Painted wood with attached metal fins and nailhead eyes.
Length 9.25 "Circa 1920

Oscar Peterson / Brown Trout Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and inset glass taxidermy eyes. Length 9" Circa 1930
For nearly a decade, this decoy held the record for the most valuable ever, fetching $18,700 in auction in New York at Sotheby's in 1991.This record would not be surpassed until January of 2000

Peterson's distinctive paint style and wonderfully whimsical approach to decoy carving have distinguished him as the preeminent creator of American Ice Fishing decoys. Widely copied and counterfeited, his works, such as the one illustrated above, have been among the most valuable and highly sought after of all American Folk Art objects.

Oscar Peterson / Brook Trout Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and inset glass taxidermy eyes. Length 8" Circa 1930's

Oscar Peterson / Polliwog Decoy
Painted wood with Brass carpet tack eyes.Length 6" Circa 1930

Oscar Peterson / Sucker Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and Carved, painted eyes. Length 14" Circa 1935

A man of powerful imagination and equally well-developed technical gifts, Oscar Peterson's output ranged beyond decoys to include decorative objects and freestanding sculptures striking for their mix of folklore naiveté and artistic refinement. He prided himself on his ability to carve anything he could see a photograph of.

Peterson's prominence derives not only from the quality of his work, but also from its quantity. Unlike most of the other carvers, who worked when the spirit moved them or necessity demanded, Peterson approached decoy making as a profession, selling to the tourist trade and using the money to supplement his earnings as a landscaper. His exact output is impossible to calculate, but most estimates put it at between ten and fifteen thousand decoys, of which perhaps ten percent still exist.

Oscar Peterson / Decorative Blue Gill Carving
Painted wood with attached metal fins. Length 8" c.1930's

Oscar Peterson / Rainbow Trout Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and carved, painted eyes. Length 12" c.1930's

Although Peterson's work was prodigious, what endures is his sensitivity and his unerring eye for the truth of the natural forms he represented. By the time of his death in 1951, a lifetime of carving had allowed Oscar Peterson to create a legend based on vivid sculptural forms with a kinetic energy that still captivates the viewer today.

Oscar Peterson / Pike Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and upholstery tack eyes. Length 7.5"Circa 1920