Beschreibung:

muslin panel painted in colors of black, green, blue, yellow, pink, and orange; seven warriors on horseback and four men on foot are depicted in battle, length 77 in. x 32 in. late 19th century Panel is accompanied with a copy of a letter of provenance dated 1981, (portion): ... First of all, my Aunt Jean MacRoy -the oldest sister of your great-great grandfather- taught in the Indian school territory of -I believe- the Dakotas and Oklahoma, where she gathered (or was given) these items:... 1) The scenes painted on unbleached muslin, and which were done by an old squaw, reportedly over 100 years old, of the war between the Blackfoot and Sioux tribes -- (here again, it's hearsay and could be incorrect). However, the paintings are authentic so far as Indian ancient craft is concerned -- coloring came from roots, etc... Lakota paintings on panels of muslin or canvas cloth developed in the 1880s, when Indian families were moved from their traditional tipis into log cabins. The mud and moss chinking between the logs quickly dried out, when chunks might fall out of position, creating drafts. To combat this problem, panels of cloth were often tacked up around the interior. As these were similar in both purpose and appearance to the earlier, leather linings used in tipis, the cloth cabin liners were often painted in similar fashion, with depictions of the owner's battle exploits. These attractive cabin liners quickly found an economic market as "Indian curios." When that happened, by the early-1890s, various Indian artists began to paint panels of cloth specifically for sale to tourists, or government officials. This painting is an example of that progression. If it had been created for home use as a cabin liner, there would be tack or nail holes around the perimeter. Lacking these, we recognize an early example of Lakota, male "commercial ingenuity." Prevented from supporting his family by hunting, this husband and father had turned his hand to another means of earning a small income. This artist was either an Oglala from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, or a Sicangu (Brule), from Rosebud Reservation. In the quarter century, 1850-1875, during which the events depicted had occurred, one of the primary enemy tribes opposed to Oglala & Sicangu expansion was the Pawnee, located south of Lakota territory in present Nebraska . All four of the pedestrian enemies depicted are Pawnee, recognizable from their plucked hairstyle, with only one or two, narrow scalplocks; and especially, black-dyed moccasins with high ankle flaps. These are worn by the two enemy figures at top, right and center. Both Pawnee also appear to be naked, a common battle choice (see, for example, Dodge, 1882: 457). The other, two Pawnee are shown as bare-footed, wearing only cloth shirts. A fascinating feature of this painting is the clear intention to depict sound: the lines emanating from the mouths of two of the Pawnee are meant to show that they were either singing protective war songs, or more probably hurling insults at the Lakota, as they were ridden down. During a stand-off encounter with Lakota in 1867, Col. Richard I. Dodge was supported by a Pawnee hunting companion. The colonel and his partner had superior firearms and a strong position, so after four hours of stratagems and aborted attacks, a Lakota war party of fifty men gave up and left them unmolested. During all the charges the Pawnee had evinced the greatest eagerness for fight...Answering yell for yell, he heaped upon them all the opprobrious epithets he could think of in English, Spanish, Sioux and Pawnee, When they wheeled and went off the last time, he turned to me with the most intense disgust and contempt, and said emphatically, "Dam coward Sioux!" (Dodge, 1882:458). This Lakota artist has documented, in graphic form, Pawnee battle insults similar to those described by Col. Dodge. Three types of distinctively-decorated battle lances, indicative of membership in various warrior societies, are i