The Plains Indian Culture Area is is the huge area in the central portion of the North American continent which stretches from the Canadian provinces in the north, almost to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River in the east. Plains Indians are those which are most often stereotyped by movies and other media as representing all Indians. The buffalo, the horse, and the tipi are all important items in Plains cultures.
During the nineteenth century, the artistic ability of Plains Indian warriors impressed the non-Indians with whom they had contact. Colonel Ricard Dodge, a well-known Indian fighter, wrote:
“All [Indians] draw, and though entirely without knowledge of perspective, all draw quite well as well as the average whites. If one wants pictures, there is no need to hunt a special artist. All he has to do is give some paper and a few colored pencils to any middle-aged warrior.”
With regard to Plains Indian art, Franz Boas, in a 1904 essay reprinted in A Wealth of Thought: Franz Boas on Native American Art, reports:
“Its fundamental character is pictographic. In objects which serve ceremonial purpose, this character is strictly maintained. Thus we find buffalo hides which are records of events, and even on blankets, pictographic representations of battle scenes, or of other events in the daily life of the Indian. On garments used in ceremonial dances, paintings occur which represent birds, sun, and moon, and are similar in character to those described before.”
In an article in American Indian Art, James Keyser writes:
“Plains Indian warrior art was concerned primarily with the depiction of a man’s war honors, drawn for purposes of self-aggrandizement to establish and maintain his status within his tribe.”
Plains Indian art was drawn on clothing, bison robes, tools, robes, tipis, and rock art sites. In her book Plains Indian Autobiographies, Lynne Woods O’Brien writes:
“The action in the pictograph usually moves from right to left, with the autobiographer shown mounted, the enemy either dismounted or in the act of fleeing. Wounds are denoted by a red spray coming from the spot of injury, while heavy fire is often indicated by streaks in the air. Particular hair and clothing styles identify different tribes of Indians.”
In the late nineteenth century, the Fort Marion prison in Florida held Indian prisoners of war who are considered to be “notorious offenders.” Lieutenant Richard Pratt, the prison’s commander, encouraged the prisoners to produce works of art for sale. With regard to selling the art, Joyce Szabo, in her chapter in Painters, Patrons, and Identity: Essays in Native American Art to Honor J.J. Brody, reports:
“Among the most popular collectibles were the warriors’ colorful drawings available for approximately two dollars per book.” The art in the books is often given concise, simple captions. The artists are also encouraged to sign their works as this makes them more valuable to a public which is accustomed to European art.
Joyce Szabo also writes of the art books produced by the captive warriors:
“They were in many ways a continuation of the Plains practice of artists makings drawings as part of a war-honors system in which men earned the right to draw images of their battle exploits through individual bravery; certainly the imprisonment of the men in Florida gave them the right to create images of their experiences both before and during their exile.”
In her chapter in Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone, Heather Waldroup writes:
“The drawings were in keeping with a rich pictorial tradition in Plains arts.”
The Portland Art Museum (PAM in Portland, Oregon has two examples of Plains Indian warrior pictorial art.
Ledger Art
PAM has a large piece by Oglala Lakota artist Dwayne Wilcox (1954- ) which was inspired by the nineteenth-century Plains Indian ledger art. According to PAM:
“Ledger drawing flowered in the northern and southern Great Plains between about 1860 to 1900. It was a transitional art form corresponding to and partly shaped by the destruction of buffalo herds and forced tribal relation to reservations.”
The most common source of paper at this time were standard issue ledgers and lined accounting books, hence the art became known as Ledger Art. While hide had been used in earlier art, these later artists now used muslin for larger works.
Model Tipi Cover
The model tipi cover shown below was made by an unidentified Cheyenne artist about 1910.
Indians 101
More American Indian art from this series:
Indians 101: Plains Indian Art (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Nez Perce Indian Art (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Three Plateau Women Artists (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Glass Art by Northwest Native Carvers and Weavers (Art Diary)
Indians 101: Reborn Rez Wrecks (museum tour)
Indians 101: The horse in American Indian art (photo diary)
Indians 101: Pueblo pottery in the Portland Art Museum (museum tour)
Indians 101: Plateau Beadwork (Photo Diary)