Hampton Institute Drawings - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Save Zoom Image View Large Image
Plate Navigation

Nº12 An Indian Settlement

Ethnographic Notes

“This is an Indian/ settlement there are some/ houses in front of them/ may be seen women/ making fire and cooking./ There is a cart full of/ boys playing-a large field of corn is/ fenced in there are high mountains/ behind the houses” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“Much like the Sun Dance drawing (Nº11), this one shows a bird's-eye view of a number of cabins and their garden plots on Lower Brulé Agency. Just as it was traumatic for the Sioux to give up a nomadic existence and live in log cabins, so too was the switch from hunting and gathering to farming. To the Sioux male, farming was demeaning and degrading work, but it was forced on the tribe as a whole, in the hope of civilizing them. Generally, it was unsuccessful.

In this drawing, as in Nº10 and Nº11, Bushotter provides the viewer with a panoramic scene. He shares this feature with a few other Hampton artists, notably Henry Fisherman (Nºs. 14 and 15). It was probably the result of the influence of white teachers as well as the group of artists who came from Fort Marion.” (p.28)

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.


Comment (0) All Comments For This Ledger
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Provenance

Drawings made in 1879 by students at the Hampton Institute, Virginia. Donated to the Pennsylvania Academy of ...

Read More
Add Note
Request Permission To Publish
Document Info
Plate No: 39
Page No: 1982_X_179
Media: Pencil, colored pencil on cream tagboard
Dimensions: 8 3/4 x 11 in.
Custodian
Credit line: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
Essays
  • There are no essays for this ledger.
Videos
  • There are no video for this ledger.