Plains hide painting is a traditional North American Plains Indian artistic practice of painting on either tanned or raw animal hides. Tipis, tipi liners, shields, parfleches, robes, clothing, drums, and winter counts could all be painted.
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Transcription
Welcome to Flag Hall at the National Museum of American History. We pretty much figure than this is where the magic happens. In our first episode we took a look at some fragments from the original Star-Spangled Banner. The real flag lives behind this wall. All of the objects we've looked at so far are part of the story of the United States of America. But what about the stories that come from America before it was the United States? (music) (music) To learn more about parts of the country that actually didn't join us until later, we're jointed today by Curator of Latino History and Culture in the Division of Home and Community Life, Margaret Salazar-Pozio. Thank you for joining us today! Thanks so much for having me. So here we are in front of a giant case and in this giant case we have what? Well, we are going to look at a hide painting, a large hide painting that was found in a church in Santo Domingo, New Mexico and it is of St. Anthony of Padua and infant Jesus. Great, let's bring it out. Get ready guys, this is the big reveal. Nice. Wow! Look at that it's huge! It is pretty big and it's also incredibly delicate I so badly wanna touch it and I'm not allowed. Nah. For conservation purposes it probably won't go out on display ever again, but that's why we get to share it with the public in a venue like this. Isn't that so cool? You're never going to see this ever again. (laugh) Send it to your friends. One of the questions we received from viewers, which by the way we still want questions from everybody, is a little bit about St. Anthony. Do we know anything about him? Well, St. Anthony was a member the Franciscan Order and you can tell by his hairdo actually, and he's pictured with a book that we believe to be of the rules of the Franciscan Order, and he is also pictured holding the baby Jesus who appeared to him in a vision in his youth. St. Anthony is depicted with a brown robe of the Franciscan Order and a knotted cord around his waist. You can see the knots and the knotted cord would have been used for sometimes self-flagellation, sometimes for praying purposes. Down here is a white ribbon that says San Antonio. And we're not sure what it would have said on this side. he didn't Too bad it doesn't say like 1725 by artist so-and-so. That would have been ideal. That's not what happens in most history. These rounded hills also feature some pear-shaped trees and perhaps these are some of the palms that would have been laid at the feet of Jesus. This indigo sky and the white kind-of clouds echo the baby Jesus' halo, and St. Francis is known as the patron saint of lost things, so if you pray to him, Catholics believe that he will help you find lost things. This is obviously very old, what else to do we know about the painting itself? Sure. So it was collected in Santo Domingo, New Mexico in 1897, and it is painted on elk hide. There are debates over when it actually was produced and who produced it and the debates are actually part of the interesting history in the object. So on one hand there are people who believe that it was maybe painted as early as 1600- 1610. Other sources say that it was painted in 1725 by a Franciscan monk. And then others say that it was even later like early 1800s, and that it was painted by enslaved Native Americans in the missions. So there are multiple different kinds of stories than what those stories all tell us is that these are different kinds of traditions and different kinds ways it could have been produced because many hide paintings were produced at the time so it reflects a larger history of hide painting. Tell us a little bit about the fact that you know in 1600, 1725, even as late as 1810 when the Mexican revolution started, none of this would have belonged to America. It's really interesting that this is an American History Museum. Yeah, and that's a question that we are always kind of grappling with and tackling is: what is American history? And for me, I come from the southwest, I'm from California and so my understanding American history starts well before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but also takes into account this long history of conquest and also of an incorporation into the nation: new states, new places, new people as the nation grew the borders changed, and so it's a very interesting history, and it's part of what we aim document here at American History. Thanks for joining us today! Be sure to check out our next episode by following us online at americanhistory.si.edu Our next object is Mr. Peanut! See you next time!
Genres
Art historian Joyce Szabo writes that Plains artists were concerned "with composition, balance, symmetry, and variety."[1] Designs can be similar to those found in earlier rock art and later quillwork and beadwork.
Geometric painting
Plains women traditionally paint abstract, geometric designs.[2][3] Bright colors were preferred and areas were filled with solid fields of color. Cross-hatching was a last resort used only when paint was scarce. Negative space was important and designs were discussed by women in terms of their negative space. Dots are used to break up large areas.[2]
Buffalo robes and parfleches were frequently painted with geometrical patterns. Parfleches are rawhide envelopes for carrying and storing goods, including food. Their painted designs are thought to be stylized maps, featuring highly abstract geographic features such as rivers or mountains.[4]
The "Feathered Sun" is a reoccurring motif of stylized feathers in several concentric circles. It visually connects a feather warbonnet to the sun.[5]
Representational painting
Traditionally, men painted representational art.[3][6] They painted living things.[2] Plains Indian male artists use a system of pictographic signs, characterized by two-dimensionality, readily recognizable by other members of their tribe.[7] This picture writing could be used for anything from directions and maps to love letters. Images were streamlined and backgrounds were minimal for clarity. Representational painting typically fell into two categories: heraldic accounts or calendars.[6]
Heraldic painting
Men recorded their battle and hunting exploits on hide tipi liners, robes, and even shirts.[8] Figures were scattered across the hide and semi-transparent images sometimes overlapped each other.[9] Narrative hides were often read right to left, with the protagonist emerging from the right.[10] Allies are on the right with enemies on the left.[11] Men and horses were commonly painted, and other popular motifs included footprints, hoofprints, name glyphs, bullets, and arrows. An 1868 Blackfoot buffalo hide features the protagonist no fewer than eight times.[12]
Painted hides also commemorate historical events, such as treaty signings.
After 1850, hide painting grew in complexity with finer lines and additional details added.[13] Introduced technologies influenced hide painting, and a 19th-century Omaha tipi featured steamboats.[13]
Calendars
Traditional Plains calendars are called winter counts because among most Plains tribes they feature a single pictogram that defined the entire year. Prior to using the Gregorian calendar, Lakota people counted years from first snow to first snow. Kiowas were unique in choosing two images per year– one for the winter and one representing the summer Sun Dance.[14]
Before the late 19th century when buffalo became scarce, winter counts were painted in buffalo hides. The annual pictograms could be arranged in a linear, spiral, or serpentine pattern.[15]
Visionary painting
Visions and dreams could inspire designs. Buckskin covers for circular rawhide hide shields, in particular, are inspired by men's visions and can include paintings of humans, animals, or spirit beings, reflecting the owner's personal powers and providing protection.[2][16] Designs could be obtained from the warriors who received the visions or from medicine men. Cheyenne men who received visions were allowed to make four shields with the design. Among the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache about 50 possible shield designs existed.[17]
Tipis could be painted with visionary designs. The design and related power belonged to the tipi-owner, which could be transferred by inheritance, marriage, or, among some tribes such as the Blackfeet, sale.[17]
Followers of the Ghost dance religion painted visionary designs on their clothing. Arapaho and Lakota ghost dance shirts were painted with crows, magpies, turtles, and cedar trees.[16]
Process and materials
Buffalo hides, as well as deer, elk, and other animal hides, are painted. Clothing and robes are often brain-tanned to be soft and supple. Parfleches, shields, and moccasin soles are rawhide for toughness.
In the past, Plains artists used a bone or wood stylus to paint with natural mineral and vegetable pigments. Sections of buffalo rib could be ground to expose the marrow, which was absorbent and worked like a contemporary ink marker.[18] Swelling cottonwood buds provided brown pigment.[19] Lakota artists used to burn yellow clay to produce ceremonial red paint. Lakotas associated blue pigments with women.[20]
In earlier times, all members of a tribe might paint but highly skilled individuals might be commissioned by others to create artwork.[17] Before the 20th century, when a Kiowa man needed to repaint his lodge, he would invite 20-30 friends to paint the entire tipi in a single day. He would then treat them all to a feast.[6]
Related art forms
Many tribes throughout North America, besides those on the Plains, also painted hides, following different aesthetic traditions. Subarctic tribes are known for their painted caribou hides. On the Plains, when buffalo herds were being slaughtered in the late 19th century, other painting surfaces became available, such as muslin, paper, and canvas, giving birth to Ledger art.[21] Contemporary Plains beadwork and jewelry used designs from hide painting.[22]
Gallery
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Knife River Villages buffalo robe featuring the "Feathered Sun" motif, photo by Chris Light
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Sioux beaded and painted rawhide parfleches
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Siksika war tipi, Montana, by McClintock
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Siksika rainbow tipi, Montana, by McClintock
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Contemporary painted rawhide hand drums, National Museum of the American Indian
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Elk hide painting by Eastern Shoshone artist Cotsiogo.
Notable Plains hide painters
See also
Notes
- ^ Szabo, 4
- ^ a b c d Szabo, 5
- ^ a b "More About Buffalo Hide Painting." National Museum of American History. (retrieved 4 Feb 2010)
- ^ Goes in Center, John. "Native American and First Nations' GIS." Native Geography. 2000 (retrieved 4 Feb 2010)
- ^ Dubin, 236-7
- ^ a b c Szabo, 7
- ^ Szabo, 5, 7
- ^ Szabo, 10
- ^ Szabo, 31
- ^ Szabo, 32
- ^ Penney, 114
- ^ "Buffalo Robe." British Museum. (retrieved 4 Feb 2010)
- ^ a b Szabo, 12
- ^ Szabo, 7-8
- ^ Szabo, 8
- ^ a b Penney, 112
- ^ a b c Szabo, 6
- ^ Penney, 124
- ^ Szabo, 13
- ^ Dubin, 246
- ^ Szabo, 16
- ^ Dubin, 263
References
- Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. ISBN 0-8109-3689-5.
- Penney, David W. North American Indian Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN 0-500-20377-6.
- Szabo, Joyce M. Howling Wolf and the History of Ledger Art. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8263-1467-8.
External links
- Plains Art, Glenbow Museum
- Tracking the Buffalo: Stories from a Buffalo Hide Painting, National Museum of American History (for children)
- Native paths: American Indian art from the collection of Charles and Valerie Diker, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Plains hide painting
This page was last edited on 11 December 2023, at 18:27