Howling Wolf and the History of Ledger Art"Ledger art is the term used to describe Plains Indian drawings and paintings on paper from the second half of the nineteenth century because they were often made on ledger paper readily available from military outposts. Howling Wolf is arguably the single most important ledger artist to emerge from the anonymity of this period. The Southern Cheyenne warrior was not only an extremely skilled artist, he was also the only Plains artist known to have created ledger art in all three phases of the art form: the pre-reservation era, the years from 1875 to 1878 when Indians of the southern Plains were confined at Fort Marion in Florida, and the reservation period. Howling Wolf's drawings while he was a prisoner at Fort Marion and those he made upon returning to the reservation were known, but this book presents the first in-depth examination of his previously undiscovered work from before his incarceration. The author shows ledger art to be a significant record of cultural attitudes of Plains Indian artists at a time when their societies were in great upheaval. She examines the works of art not only as historic documents but as visual statement reflecting the time, place, and society in which they originated. In contrast to the belief that ledger art was a stagnant form adhering to tradition, the author presents ledger art as a dynamic and inventive means of expression."--Book jacket. |
Contents
THE ART AND ARTISTS OF THE PLAINS | 3 |
LEDGER ART | 15 |
Cheyenne 18801890 | 40 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Allen Memorial Art American Indian Art battle Berthrong Black Kettle Boston Cheyenne and Arapaho color Commissioner of Indian compositional schemes crayon on paper cultural Dance Dog Soldiers drawing books Eagle Head environment exile Field Museum figures Florida Grinnell Hampton History horse Howling Wolf Howling Wolf drawings illustrations images Indian Affairs Indian Territory ink on paper Jacob D John Gregory Bourke Joslyn Art Museum Kiowa ledger art ledger artists ledger drawings Letters Received Marion art Marion artists Marion drawings Marion inmates Memorial Art Museum National Archives non-Indian Norman Oberlin College Oberlin drawings Oberlin ledger Office of Indian Oklahoma Press Pencil Petersen pictographic pictographic conventions pictorial space Plains Indian Plains Indian Art Plate Pratt Papers prisoners Record Group 75 reservation drawings Richard H Saint Augustine scenes Sioux Southern Cheyenne southern Plains Tall Bull traditional Plains tribal tribe University of Oklahoma visual warrior society Western Americana Collections Wolf's Yale University