Blackfoot (Niitsitapi, Siksikaitsitapi), Piegan (Piikani) Search this
Object Type:
Hide Painting
Place:
Not Given, Montana, United States, North America
Accession Date:
6 Dec 1892
Notes:
FROM CARD: "COPY EX. HISTORICALLY PAINTED. W.C. EXPOSITION. FOR DETAILED EXPLANATION SEE FOLDER "SKIN PAINTINGS" DIV. OF ETHNOLOGY. LOANED TO THE ART GALLERIES, UNIV. OF CALIF. 3-21-1974. RETURNED MAY 22, 1974. OLD EXHIBIT LABEL: ROBE - MADE FROM THE SKIN OF A BLACK BULL, DRESSED IN ABORIGINAL FASHION BY MEANS OF SKIN SCRAPERS. SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BUFFALO, THE INDIAN WOMEN OF MONTANA AND THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY HAVE SUBSTITUTED THE SKINS OF CATTLE AND DRESS THEM IN THE SAME MANNER. PAINTED BY A WARRIOR. COLLECTED BY Z. T. DANIEL." FIGURATIVE DECORATION. THE FOLDER REFERRED TO IS NOW IN THE NATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHIVES. IT IDENTIFIES THE ARTIST AS SHARP, AND THE PRIMARY PERSON DEPICTED AS SHORTIE BLACKFEET. JOHN EWERS ESTABLISHED THAT THIS WAS THE SAME PERSON AS CHIEF SHORTIE [A.K.A. SHORTY] WHITE GRASS (C.1827/8-1926) OF THE BUFFALO CHIP BAND OF THE PIEGAN ("A CENTURY AND A HALF OF BLACKFEET PICTURE WRITING" AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE 8.3., 1983.) NOTES ADDED BY C. GREENE 1/4/1999. SEE PROCESSING LAB ACCESSION FILE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Pictographic scenes of warfare, horse raiding, and bear hunting painted on a steer hide. See: National Anthropological Archives, Records of the Dept. of Anthropology, Series 17: Division of Ethnology, Manuscript and Pamphlet File, Box 79, Folder 835, Skin Painting, for "Explanation of illustration on Black Steer Robe, as related by "Sharp," a Piegan Indian who painted it in the Spring of 1892," by Z. T. Daniel. A transcription of this is attached to this database record.
Reference: pp. 71 - 75 in Dempsey, L. James. 2007. Blackfoot war art: pictographs of the reservation period, 1880-2000. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
See also E358276, a shirt that belonged to Shorty White Grass.
