“Here is a man looking out, out of his tent telling his wife to hurry and/ cook, the woman says, that the water is Just boiling now. Them things/ you see hanging up are his war path dresses,/ Kauranarch” (Artist’s inscription, verso)
“This drawing shows an Arikara summer camp scene. Although the Arikara lived in permanent villages (like the Mandan and Hidatsa), during the summer months small bands moved from the village sites to hunt buffalo. During these forays, they lived in the classic Plains Indian shelter, the tipi. The scene is typical, showing the tipi with the warrior's weapons (the shield suspended from a stake and the feathered lance) displayed outside. Nearby a woman cooks on the traditional tripod structure that holds the boiling kettle over the fire. All the implements used for cooking and serving are trade items (a metal kettle, metal serving tray with handles, and tin cups). The woman is dressed entirely in western clothes: skirt, blouse, handkerchief around the neck, and boots.” (p.34)
William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.