Annie Oakley (1860-1926). Standing barely five feet tall, Annie Oakley toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for 17 years after joining it in 1885. While on European tour, and at the invitation of German Crown Prince Wilhelm (later Kaiser Wilhelm II) Annie shot a cigarette from his lips; she was also known to sever a playing card, thin edge facing her, at 90 feet. Many of her records established with pistols, rifles and shotguns remain unequaled to this day. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Rain-in-the-Face, 'Iromagaja' (ca. 1835-1905). Warrior of note during the Red Cloud Wars. He became known to the army through the ears of Charley Reynolds, Custer's chief scout. Reynolds overheard a boast by Rain-in-the-Face during a war dance at the Standing Rock Agency in December of 1874. 'Iromagaja' told of killing two civilians traveling with Custer's 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. The tale was reported to General Custer, then Commander of Fort Abraham Lincoln, D.T. Captain Thomas Custer (brother of the General) was ordered to arrest the chief. He was imprisoned at Fort Lincoln but he managed to escape, vowing to avenge his incarceration at the hands of Captain Custer. 'Iromagaja' united a large band of warriors and joined Sitting Bull's hostiles, where in June 1876 in the valley of Little Bighorn, it is said Rain-in-the-Face was avenged. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Following the travesty at Wounded Knee and the killing of Sitting Bull, Bull's followers and family found themselves outcasts within their own tribe as others feared the possible repercussions for collaborating with those who had refused to submit to the white man. This photograph shows one of the few ways Bull's family could now find to support themselves, a form of degrading prostitution performed before the camera. Bull's two surviving widows have cut their hair short as an expression of sorrow and grief in his death. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Dimensions
23 X 18.5 cm
Size Overall
51 X 41 cm
Medium
Black and white photograph
Condition
"Severe bowing back of both vertical edges away from mat. The tension holders on the back, which keep the back board snug, are coming loose."
American Horse 'Wasechum Taschunka' (1840-1908). 'Wasechum Taschunka' took on the name American Horse following the death of his uncle ate the Battle of Slim Buttes. During the reservation days, he was considered a notable progressive and became a head Oglala spokesman. As an orator and diplomat, he represented his people in numerous negotiations with the federal government. Following the tragedy of Wounded Knee he became the leader of a unified Sioux delegation which traveled to Washington seeking a more equitable treatment for the Sioux. In his later years he traveled with Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Show. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
John Grass 'Pizi' (1837-1918). John Grass, warrior and gifted orator was well known during reservation days as a progressive. Able to speak English and many dialects of Sioux, he was made head chief at the Standing Rock Agency, a position created by the white agent to rival the authority of Sitting Bull and unify the Agency Sioux. In later years he was credited for the success of the Commission of 1889: a session which, by the stroke of the pen, meant the end to the great Sioux Reservation. The stage has been set for the Ghost Dance uprising. Sitting Bull was killed, Wounded Knee took the lives of over 150 Sioux, and ironically John Grass helped negotiate a settlement for the survivors. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Dimensions
23 X 18.5 cm
Size Overall
51 X 41 cm
Medium
Black and white photograph
Condition
Severe bowing back of left vertical edge away from mat.
He is presented to have been the Osage scout who accompanied Custer during his campaign against the Southern Cheyenne, in which the 7th Cavalry captured Black Kettle's village located near the Washita River in Kansas. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
This man was a shirt wearer and a medicine man. The scalp locks upon his shirt testify to his prowess as a warrior; the arrangement of his hair serves as a symbol of his sacred office as a tribal leader and medicine man. (Harbaugh, P., 1982).
Gall 'Pizi' (ca. 1838-1895). A wise, fearless, and successful war chief, Gall was Sitting Bull's adopted brother and one of the few Indians for which the army offered a bounty. While visiting Fort Berthold, D.T., Gall was discovered and bayoneted by soldiers. Assumed to be dead, his body was abandoned by those in his camp, and in the bitter cold of a Dakota winter night Gall staggered some 20 miles in search of aid. Stabbed through his neck, belly and abdomen, it was nearly a year before he recovered completely. Gall poses, painted as if for battle, in Barry's Ford Buffalo studio shortly before he was sent to the Standing Rock Agency. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Chief Joseph 'Hanmaton Talatkit' (ca. 1832-1904). By the close of 1876 the Sioux had been pacified enough that Manifest Destiny could focus her attention and Gatling guns on the Nez Perce of Oregon and Washington where gold had been discovered. Although he had always advocated coexistence with the white man, Chief Joseph was forced from his native home into a three-month, 1300 mile flight through what are today four states and twice across the Rocky Mountains, defeating the U.S. Army in seven major battles. He came within forty miles of sanctuary, the Canadian border, where he envisioned joining Sitting Bull and his exiled people, when his sick and starving band was overtaken by General Miles and one-armed General O.O. Howard. Joseph surrendered October 5, 1877. General Miles agreed to return the Nez Perce to the west; instead, they were sent to Indian Territory. Joseph was so successful a military leader and so influential a tribal leader that he was never allowed to return to his homeland and people. It was said that upon Joseph's exiled death in September of 1904, the agency doctor identified the cause of death as 'broken heart'. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
The Grass Dance was a social, religious and healing dance which gained significance and popularity at a time when the buffalo vanished from the plains and the buffalo grass was being plowed under and replanted with wheat. Participants envisioned the return of the buffalo and the old ways of the Sioux. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Sitting Bull 'Tatanka Iyotanka' (1834-1890). Having been civilized by two years of subjugation and stripped of his tribal authority by the white man, Sitting Bull remained the sentinel to which the traditional Sioux clang, resulting in his death as the Ghost Dance passed. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
Several paint scratches all over image. Tear in canvas in BL area of the image. Canvas bulged form wooden back support on L, B and R. Traction cracks all over image (result of dry environment). 2cm vertical scratch in paint on BL side; small nail hole
The tipi was raised at noon on Friday, August 15, 1997 in the Tipi Village at the Canada Summer Games site, Brandon, Manitoba. A pipe ceremony was conducted by elders Mary and Solomon Hall of Sioux Valley, Manitoba and a feast was provided by the students. At the conclusion of the Summer Games it was set up on the campus of Brandon University to welcome all to a new year.
The painted sun on the eastern door cover symbolically welcomes the sun into and out of the tipi during it's daily journey. The cover is made with the intention to invite not only the sun, but everyone into the tipi. The red hands radiating from the sun are the hands of those who painted this tipi. The painted hand imprint is a most ancient image recorded by humans. It is a clear message of human presence and all that humanity means. These hands are reaching out like the rays of the sun to greet all with warmth in the 'Welcome Lodge'.
Dimensions
158 X 122 cm
Size Overall
same as image
Medium
acrylic
Notes
Designed and painted by the students of the Experiments in Traditional Art Forms class of 1997.
Condition
Canvas is heavily creased from storage. Severe cracks in paint throughout. Water stain in area TM, as well as a brown stain in area RM. There is a 66 cm vertical gash down the center of the image, but has been sewn up.
Jan Brancewicz, a native of Cracow, Poland, studied art and art education at Teacher's College in Cracow. He immigrated to Canada in 1965. Since his arrival in Brandon, [MB] he has taught in the public school system. For the past eighteen years, he has also been a sessional lecturer of visual design at Brandon University. Brancewicz has exhibited his works extensively in Manitoba and Cracow, Poland. Jan Brancewicz's works reflect the influence of the Constructivist tradition which emerged in Europe during the early 20th century. Like his art predecessors, he construct's images using the formal elements of line, shape, color and spatial relationships, rather than image, are of critical and primary importance to Brancewicz. (Exhibition Catalogue 'Landscape Constructions'; AGSM, 1990)
Dimensions
121 X 151 cm
Size Overall
same as image
Medium
acrylic
Condition
Painting needs backing board to prevent damages to its surface. Light and fine pencil marks in top horizontal register. Paint transfer in TL corner.
Barry Burdeny, whose home was at Vita, Manitoba, won first place at age 17 (in 1962) in a school art competition with some 10,000 plus entries and a prize of several thousand dollars. He produced many paintings in the next two years and entered Brandon College in 1964. (BU Art Catalogue, 1983)
