| Object ID |
T0082 |
| Object Name |
Drawing - Owl Chased by Crows |
| Description |
"Three Fighting Horsemen";
Medium/Materials: Pencil and crayon on paper;
Marks: Imprinted in blue on upper right corner: "200" and name glyph illustrates in pencil an owl colored in with yellow pencil; |
| Artist |
Artist of the Big Pointed Noses |
| Dimensions |
H-6 W-12 inches |
| Early Date |
1875 |
| Late Date |
1878 |
| Medium |
Pencil and crayon on paper |
| Place of Origin |
USA |
| People |
Arapaho/Cheyenne/ |
| Provenance |
(1) Antiquities Dealer. Laguna Beach, California.;
(2) Vincent Price. ca. 1960;
(3) Morning Star. Santa Fe, New Mexico.;
(4) Eugene V. Thaw 1 January 1993.;
|
| History |
Scholarly Attributions:
[1] Discussion by Ronald McCoy - 12 September 1987 - "I have examined the drawings in the Vincent Price Ledger and in my opinion these images are of Cheyenne origin and most likely date to the period circa 1875-1878. .. Assignment of a Cheyenne provenance for the images in the Vincent Price Ledger seems logical enough when one takes into account the overall artistic style employed by the warrior-artists who created these drawings. Then, too, details of costume, identification of the enemy tribes and peoples against whom combat is waged in the collection (e.g. Pawnees, possibly Kiowas or Comanches, even Mexico lancers), and careful study of the designs painted on the Medicine shields carried by the hero-warriros are consistent with aspects of the Cheyenne buffalo culture milieu. // It must be pointed out that two pages from the Vincent Price Ledger in its pre-laminated form are reproduced as figure 201 in Frederick J. Dockstader, INDIAN ART IN AMERICA: THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN (New
York: Promontory Press, 1973). Therein, the is described as "Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Price," identified as KIOWA; Oklahoma," and given a temporal assignment of "1880-1900." But the name glyphs present in the book -- tentatively identified as perhaps denotative of such individuals as Jumping Rabbit, Eagle Head, Two Crows, Black Horse, and Starving Elk -- are notably Cheyenne. The shields, too, convey more of a Cheyenne than Kiowa impression. The style of representation and the manner of presentation are consistent with Cheyenne work. And it is doubtful whether during the reservation period, beginning c.1880, many warriors of any tribe engaged in the act of depicting themselves slaying as many Euro-Americans, as often, as is seen in this volume. Identification of the volume as Kiowa, c.1880-1900, therefore seems unwarranted, particularly since no basis for such a conclusion has been provided. In lieu of that fact, identification of the book as Cheyenne, c.1875-1878 seems more consistent with the
invaluable testimony provided by the volume itself. // Examination of the book leads me to the conclusion that the work of perhaps four Cheyenne warrior-artists -- tentaively labeled A,B,C, and D - is represented in this collection. Artist A depicts human figures with sharp chins, while his horses are at once long-legged and thin-waisted. Artist B shows humans with a rounded forehead and his horses exhibit a heavy, protruding chest; he is, in addition, somewhat experimentally-inclined in his depiction of the attitudes assumed by his horse figures. Artist C's people display long, often hooked noses and a generally boney appearance. Artist D devotes, comparatively, a good deal of attention to the contours of the human facial profile; his equine display diversity in attitude and are relatively long-bodied in appearance." [2] Letter from Irme Nagy - 23 March 1998 - " [text from the discussion of T82] - "[cover letter] "Owl (Arapaho) Chased by Crows"; [p.4 of letter] "The above sketchy argument already informed
you that this drawing also has to be Arapaho, because it was not made by the "artist of the sharp pointed noses" (who was Cheyenne) but is the work of the "artist of the big pointed noses". At the moment, I can not further identify this artist although I work on it. And as eighty percent of his drawings have name glyphs on them, these means a good database for the stare in unraveling the puzzle. There is however another proof for his Arapaho identity: the weapon he used to count coup on the Crows is an emblem of one of the Arapaho warrior societies. Because here I do not have my personal library at hand, I can not tell you exactly which society, and which degree [it might be the second degree of the Lance society but I am not really sure], however, you can check it in Alfred Kroeber's The Arapaho ... where he described (and illustrated!) all the society regalia carefully. Further, the same hero, with the same shield but with a different Arapaho[!] warrior society emblem appears on one fo the loose sheet from
the above mentioned - disperse - Arapaho ledger, where he is identified with an inscription: 'Black Owl, Arapaho'." |
| Used |
Arapaho/Cheyenne |
|
