Siyosapa's Sun Dance drawings

[grahamew]

A Hunkpapa/Yanktonai wicasa wakan, more specifically, a yuwipi man, Siyosapa was supposedly attached to Sitting Bull's band, but was living at Fort Peck from 1872 onwards (so, he can't be the man photographed with One Bull by Cross in Sitting Bull's camp at Fort Randall). Captain Ogden B. Read, who bought items from him in 1881, described him as the principal medicine man of the Yanktonai tribe. There are a number of items made by him in museum collections, but this post is going to illustrate his Sun Dance paintings.








This tipi liner was collected at Poplar River, Montana by Captain James Bell (or possibly his wife) in 1880/81.


Note the square drums with the horned head design. Siyosapa made several of these and these are the only Sun Dance drawings in which they feature.

He made several other versions of the Sun Dance painting. This image of the Sun Dance can be seen in several other drawings by Siyosapa; this one is in the National Museum of the American Indian:









americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_24751?destination=edan_searchtab%3Fedan_q%3D%25202/3304

This similarly vertical muslin was on the Bonham's site:

Note the similar layout, the pipes and the man hanging from the Sun Dance pole.








www.bonhams.com/auction/25505/lot/182/a-plains-painted-muslin/




This one is in the Chicago History Museum images.chicagohistory.org/search/?searchQuery=sioux
There is an excellent paper on Siyosapa that can be downloaded as a pdf: www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/8/4/148?type=check_update&version=2


This is another wpork by Siyosapa in The Chicago History Museum

I don't think the eyes are a match, but I did wonder whether this drawing of the Attack on Poplar River isn't by him, since he was clearly in the vicinity:








www.splendidheritage.com/Notes/WC8708933.pdf

[grahamew]

Another one, currently held here: collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8450620?q=sioux+muslin&record=50&hlterm=sioux%2Bmuslin&inline=true









Many of the same motifs are present: the sqaure drums and buffalo heads; the man suspended from the Sun Dance pole; the buffalo; the conflict with the Crow.

[grahamew]

Another muslin tipi liner credited to Siyosapa



americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_220358?destination=edan_searchtab%3Fpage%3D18%26edan_q%3DArchitecture/Housing