Albert Bierstadt among the Lakota

[grahamew]

Bierstadt visited the Lakota round Fort Laramie in 1859 and took photographs, made sketches and worked some of those sketches up into paintings. Here's a group of portraits. The man on the right is Big Mouth, presumably the Wagluhe leader killed by Spotted Tail ten years later:



This one is Indians near Fort Laramie. I'm almost certain I've seen a photograph (or more than one) that at least some of the figures are based on:



Here's one of his photographs - Sioux Village near Fort Laramie:


Ogalillah (sic) Sioux Village, North fork of the Platte:


Sioux lodge:


Some of the paintings he did of the scenes around this are, presumably, from much later and while the tipis and background may be based on his earlier work, the figures are based on photos by others. I'm sure I recognise the man at the right as Little Soldier, a Weber Ute and the reclining man as Standing Buffalo, a Winnebago, taken by Hamilton.


Sioux Camp near Laramie Peak (date???)


Little Soldier, Weber Ute (possibly by C. R. Savage, 1870s)


Standing Buffalo, Winnebago (photo by Hamilton) (Mid- late 1870s?


The point is: can anyone upload more photos from Bierstadt's time with the Lakota...?

[Dietmar]

Thanks for compiling these pieces, Grahame.

What really strikes me is the first likeness we have now of the Oglala Big Mouth, the brother of Blue Horse.

[grahamew]

Wish we had the names of the people in the other group too.

[kingsleybray]

The man profiled at the left and labelled "Bad heart": A man with this name is listed in the Red Cloud Agency register 1876, and in the Jan. 1877 agency beef issue records - both times next to "Mrs Twist", i.e. the widow of former Agent T. S. twiss. Since Twiss was the agent at the time of Bierstadt's jaunt, there may be a connection.

Second from left, the man is labelled "Eachni, Dummy". The Lakota word Ie-shni means 'dumb', i.e. unable to speak. There is a Gardner 1868 Ft Laramie image of a man identified as Deaf and Dumb. Am I being fanciful or is there a resemblance? Better men than me on the boards at recognizing faces!

The Oglala lady at bottom is labelled "Marge". As the wives of trading personnel many such women were given French Christian names. The wife of Antoine Reynal was (according to Francis Parkman) called Margot.

What do we know about the provenance of the second painting on this page, the group of men on the prairie?

[kingsleybray]

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Bierstadt_-_Sioux_Village_near_Fort_Laramie.jpg

Sorry, still can't post pictures, but here is a link to a good res Bierstadt painting of a Sioux camp near Ft Laramie



[entered to upload the picture - Dietmar]

[grahamew]

For what it's worth, it clearly isn't a worked up painting in the sense of the one in your last post, which, I'm guessing. was based on sketches but actually painted back east. The slightly awkward composition suggests it was based on separate sketches - or maybe photographs - and somewhere in the back of my mind I have a feeling I've seen a Bierstadt Brothers' photo (he had two brothers who published the photographs) featuring one or more of the men in that picture.

The painting at the top of the thread, Studies of Indian Chiefs at Fort Laramie, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the other one is held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and dated 1859.

Note the similarities between one of the mounted men and the horseman in the painting above.


View of Chimney Rock, Ogalilah Sioux Village in the Foreground (1860/61 - there's an 1861 engraving of it in the Ladies Repository Magazine, so this date must be right) - the man with the bow case is vaguely similar to the man in the photograph of the mounted Shoshone


This engraving is based on a Bierstadt work and purports to show "EMIGRANTS IN NEBRASKA, 1859. Dog Belly, chief of the Oglala Sioux, and some of his braves smoking the peace pipe while emigrants cross the South Fork of the Platte River in Nebraska on their way west. Wood engraving, 1859, after a drawing by Albert Bierstadt, seen sketching at far right. " It appeared in Harper's Weekly 13 August 1859 with the text: "At the present date both banks of the river are lined with the wagons and animals of the emigrants; and the happy owners of those which have successfully "passed over Jordan" may well cast their eyes across the swelling flood and gaze with Christian resignation upon the toiling and struggling pilgrims who have yet to prove their faith and endurance. The water rushing over the wagons, the plunging and kicking of the mules, and the imprecations of the teamsters, render the scene one of peculiar interest; and to add to it, Dog Belly, chief of the Ogallalah band of the Sioux tribe of Indians, with a small party of his braves, are grouped around Colonel Lander’s carriage, smoking the pipe of peace. Mr. Albert Bierstadt, of Boston, the artist of the expedition, is engaged in sketching their appearance. And it is to his pencil we are indebted for the illustrations accompanying this article." archive.today/UEbB#selection-1245.0-1245.896



There's a reference to this Bierstadt photographing Dog Belly (May-June) and several of his people near Fort Kearny in Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865. There's also a reference to photographs being made of Oglalas, Cheyennes and Shoshone.

Here is one of the Shoshone photos:

[grahamew]

A close up reveals that Dog Belly is holding a whip with a toothed edge, possibly a badge of office in a warrior society.

[kingsleybray]

www.wikiart.org/en/albert-bierstadt/indians-travelling-near-fort-laramie-1861#supersized-artistPaintings-260105

another superb Bierstadt oil painting of "Indians Traveling near Fort Laramie". Chimney Rock, not for the only time, is in the background. While doubtless worked up from field sketches, this has great details of the minutiae of camp equipment and movement. We have a fine view of a horse transporting lodge poles with an improvised travois lashed on; parfleches, bundles, and cases secured to the pack saddle; people preparing packs for travel; a netted travois hoop that Bierstadt photographed and then worked in to most of his paintings!

Could Dietmar do the honours again?

That's great, grahamew, the detail with the whip - as has been the whole thread. Once you start trawling for Bierstadt images, it's clear that he left a priceless resource on mid-19th c. Lakota (and specifically Oglala) culture. A real eye-opener.



[entered - Dietmar]

[kingsleybray]

On Dog Belly: I think he must be the same man as Wolf Belly. His name is the first in the register of the "Cut Off Band" (i.e. the Kiyaksa or Southern Oglala) taken at Red Cloud Agency Nov. 8, 1876. He also appears in the beef issue record for December 1876 at RCA, as part of the beef band of Three Stars. See Buecker & Paul, eds., THE CRAZY HORSE SURRENDER LEDGER, pages 24, 124.

Judging from the 1890 Pine Ridge census the Three Stars cluster of families belonged to the Iwayusota sub-band of the Kiyaksa.

[grahamew]

The Bierstadt Brothers' Catalogue of Photographs (1860) contained 52 stereoscopic views of the 'Far West', including 'at least sixteen pictures of Shoshone, Sioux and Cheyenne subjects." (Sandweiss, Print the Legend: Photography and the American West; p 139).

Here's a tantalising partial list:

53. Oglala Sioux, Fort Laramie, NA. 52.
Colonel lander's train. 53. Emigrant Train St. Joseph, MO. 58. Cheyanne Village,
Platte River, Na. 63. Bellemont Ferry-Boat, Kansas. 64. Devils Gate from above,
Nebraska. 65. Market Place, St Joseph, Mo. 66. Shoshone warrior. 67. St. Joseph,
Mo. 69. Salt River Valley. 72. Sioux village near Fort Laramie, Nebraska. 73.
Study of horses, Missouri. 75. Devils Gate, passage of the Sweet River,
Nebraska. 77. Part of Colonel Landers men. 81. Emigrants waiting for the ferry,
St. Joseph, Mo. 82. Shanty in Bellemont, Kansas. 83. Ford of the Big Blue,
Kansas. 84. Bellemont, Kansas. 85. Unpacking Indian goods, Nebraska. 86. Waiting
for the ferry, St. Joseph, Mo. 87. Bellemont, Missouri river, Kansas. 88.
Emigrant train on the big sandy river, Oregon. 89. Near Troy Kansas. 90.
Shoshone children, Nebraska. 91. Ferry on the Big Blue, Kansas. 92. Ford of the
Little Blue, Kansas. 93. Log cabin, Kansas. 94. Oglala Sioux, Horse Creek,
Nebraska. 95. Indian Pony, Kansas. 96. Wolf River ford, Kansas. 97. Shoshone
Indians, Nebraska. 98. Oglala sioux village, North fork of the Platte, Nebraska.
99. Sioux lodge, Nebraska. 101. Shoshone family, Nebraska. 102. Sioux Indians,
Nebraska. 103. Warrior. 106. U.S. train in camp, Nebraska. 107. Shoshone
warriors mounted, Nebraska. 116, Shoshone guide, Nebraska. 118. Indian
interpreter, Nebraska. 119. Emigrants traveling on the plains, Nebraska. 122.
Oglala Sioux, the Indian Queen, Nebraska. 123. Colonel's ambulance on
the plains, Nebraska. 124. Culinary art on the plains, Nebraska. 125. Cottonwood
trees, near Boiling Springs. Nebraska. 126. Cottonwood springs, Platte river,
Nebraska. 128. Colonel's men among the Rocky Mountains. 131. Shoshone village,
Nebraska. 132. Train camping on the Colorado. 134. Pikes Peak emigrants, St
Joseph, Mo. 138. Rocky Mountain trapper.

www.highpricespaid.com/bierstadt-glass-stereoviews.html

[grahamew]

Oglala Camp near Fort Laramie:

[bulltrain]

Unrelated to this subject, I would like to ask Grahamew some questions about RL Kelly's photos. I just signed up and do not know how.

[Gary]

A very interesting thread. I have to say that the first two pictures don't look like Bierstadt's work.In fact they don't even look like they were painted by the same artist. I could be wrong! Still very interesting.

[allenc]

Thanks very much for the Bierstadt photos. Where are they located?
thanks
almont

[grahamew]

Sorry for the ridiculously late reply. I've been looking, but as yet, haven't found the source. I do have a larger version of one of the photos already posted, though:









Here's a Bierstadt painting, Trapper and Indian Guide on Horseback, very much in the style of his Lakota paintings - not all his work was as florid as the stuff I suspect he worked up in the studio from his field sketches and photographs. No date for this; it's from www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/american-paintings-drawings-sculpture/lot.6.html