Sitting Bull painting

[jay]

I thought the members might enjoy seeing a painting of sitting Bull done from life in 1882 by Henry H. Cross - probably at Fort Randall.
The portrait is annotated by Cross and signed in paint by Sitting Bull.

Try as I may, I can't figure out how to append an image to this message. Anyone wishing to see photos of this portrait please e mail [e-mail]

Jay.

[Diane Merkel]

Jay,

Photos must have a web address to be posted here. Once the address is typed or pasted in the "post reply" message area, highlight the address, and click the fourth button from the left, the one that looks like a little picture. That will place the appropriate tags around the address so that the photo will show.

If you like, you can email them to me, and I will post them for you.

Diane

[e-mail]

[Californian]

[grahamew]

Isn't Cross the artist who cliamed he'd painted several famous headmen from life, often wearing fanciful clothing?
codystudies.org/bonner/cross.php

[Californian]

yes, you are right but Cross did not paint from life, he painted from photographs and his renditions are not very good. The Sitting Bull portrait was most likely painted from one of the Palmquist & Jurgens photographs, which typically had a facsimile of Sitting Bull's autograph. Also the dates he claims are mostly wrong, I'd say that most of his "famous" Indian portraits date from the early 1900s. One version of the Sitting Bull portraits by him which is at the Gilcrease he dated to 1877 ... really Oddly Buffalo Bill proclaimed cross as the "greatest painter of all time".

click onto image to enlarge

or see on the Gilcrease website collections.gilcrease.org/object/011662

Possibly he may have seen and/or been inspired by the Sitting Bull portraits by Caroline Weldon, which are eerily similar, far better executed but also based on the Palmquist & Jurgens photographs

click onto images to enlarge




Here's a selection of Henry H. Cross portraits at the Gilcrease collections.gilcrease.org/creator/henry-h-cross