Stories Unbound: Exhibition of Narrative Art Shows More than a Century of Native Life on the Plains

Capturing Time

Narrative art was born out of the Plains Indian style of pictorial storytelling. These were illustrations painted with bone and wooden brushes and pigments made from natural materials such as clay on animal hides, clothing or tipis. Mainly male elders, warriors and other storytellers used the scenes of specific events they captured as a way to document the history of a tribe and lives of important individuals such as chiefs. Often, they depicted the victories in battle. Others chronicled happenings from one winter to another and so became known as “winter counts.”

As colonists expanded into the West, the Plains Indian tribes experienced profound changes during the 1800s. U.S government policies aimed at assimilating Native peoples disrupted the tribes’ way of life and traditions. As part of these efforts, colonists slaughtered bison by the thousands, shooting them from trains, so their hides became a scarce commodity.

Resourceful Indigenous culture keepers found new canvases on which to document their stories: cloth and paper, including ledger books. Typically used by Europeans to document inventory, blank ledger books could tell stories with not only paint but pencils, pens and even crayons. As paper became more available, ledger books became the main art medium for the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa and other Native inmates from the two-year Red River War between the United States and Southern Plain tribes who were incarcerated at the Fort Marion military prison in St. Augustine, Florida, from the end of the war in 1875 through 1878. Many scenes from the war were recorded through these artworks.

During the time when American Indians were being forced onto reservations, from about 1870 to 1920, ledger art also began attracting the notice of tourists. So Native artists began to sell fewer pieces that told stories of conflicts with non-Native peoples and more about their traditional way of life. As Indigenous children were being forced to attend boarding schools and the efforts to suppress Native culture increased, the amount of ledger art being produced declined.

Continuing the Story

During the mid-20th century, however, Native people began expressing themselves in different ways. During the 1960s and 1970s, a time of political upheaval, the American Indian Movement gave Native people a voice and a vote. Narrative art began experiencing a resurgence through artists like Carl Sweezy (Southern Arapaho) and Silver Horn (Kiowa). Over time, its popularity grew, and individuals from tribes not historically associated with ledger art have learned to take on and interpret the medium.

Terrance Guardipee, an artist from the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, witnessed this revival. Early in his painting career during the early 1990s, Guardipee traveled to Spokane, Washington, and met artist George Flett of the Spokane Tribe. He asked Guardipee if he was interested in joining an art group of a few Native artists who wanted to revive ledger art. Over time, Guardipee began experimenting by using antique maps of Montana as his new canvas. Using checkbooks, music sheets and whatever other antique paper materials he could find, Guradipee would make a collage on the maps, creating large pieces that told stories about his Blackfeet Tribe and family.

For example, “Running Eagle-Blackfeet Warrior Woman” immortalizes the female war chief in the male-dominated Crazy Dogs Warrior Society during the 1800s. “Running Eagle was a very blessed and a very powerful person,” he said. Other works include “Healing Ceremony,” which depicts an ill woman being healed by a medicine man, and “Mountain Chief,” which celebrates the Blackfeet warrior Mountain Chief who is a relative of Guardipee and a member of the Black Horse Society. “I worked hard on that to make it different, to make it impactful, and to represent my family and ancestors in the most beautiful and clean way I possibly can,” he said. “One ledger is one. No prints. I want them to be special.”

In addition to stylized riders on horses, his pieces often feature streaks of color and sun discs that represent a higher being. “Everything in my art all revolves back to the Creator, who created my ancestors, who created me, who created ledger art and who gave us that power and gift,” he said.

Linking Past and Present

Growing up on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, James Yellowhawk became interested in art and began creating mixed media pieces using an airbrush, pencils and acrylic paints. When he discovered ledger art, Yellowhawk first started with simple forms and scenes before making it his own by incorporating images of characters riding a motorcycle. His love of bikes first started when his dad bought him one when he was 10 years old. Ledger art was an outlet for him. “It’s kind of like therapy,” he said, “like a diary almost.”

Over time he started to challenge himself by turning to different items to use as canvas, including a tent model he found in an antique shop. Taking a few weeks to sketch out different designs, the final piece features a night sky design on top, four triangles on the bottom that are the Black Hills, as well as buffalo hoofprints and the sun. “It represents my homelands here at the Black Hills,” Yellowhawk said. “The ancestors, the Star Nation, all the loved ones that passed on, including my wife. It’s kind of like an honoring piece.”

Yellowhawk also incorporates his love of traditional dancing into his works. Growing up, Yellowhawk said dancing was frowned upon by his church. So he would sneak to powwows to watch the dancers. Not until he was in his 30s did he make traditional dancing part of his life, and to his surprise, his nephew and father followed. “That’s the feeling I always wanted,” he said. “The best way to voice myself is through my art,” he said. “Makes me more proud of who I am.”

Like Yellowhawk, Osage, Kaw and Cheyenne River Sioux artist Chris Pappan had to find his identity in the art world. Growing up in Arizona away from his Native homelands, he also struggled with connecting to his Indigenous roots. One day, he stumbled upon an old unused ledger book and recalled narrative artists used these as their canvases. “I thought, ‘Oh, this is what I should be doing,’” he recalled.

His works feature reproduced photographs of Native people while overlapping and sometimes disorientating the face of the individual. These tell a story about the past and present. This mirroring effect is used on “Wah Zha Zhe Creation,” which is a portrait of the Osage Chief Bacon Rind. The background features stars that represent the Osage creation story. “Ledger art really brought me back to my community,” he said. “It was meant to be for me. I’m grateful.”

Now based in Chicago, Pappan said he is currently working on larger scale pieces for public arts projects, including at O’Hare International Airport, that “push the boundaries” of what people might think of as Native art. “Native people have the autonomy to determine that tradition for themselves,” he said. “We have the right to say it’s art because we say it is.”

Creating those new spaces is something familiar to Lauren Good Day. As one of the few female artists featured in this exhibition, Good Day acknowledges ledger art started as a men’s tradition, but it’s something she has made her own. “I tell mostly stories about women and my lived experiences,” Good Day said. Drawing inspiration from her mother, aunts and other female family members, Good Day centers much of her ledger art around feminine activities. She also focuses on details, such as decorations on their regalia. In her other works such as “Independence Day Celebration,” she shows her tribes traditions of dancing, ceremonies and giveaways through a female perspective.

As a fashion designer, Good Day has found a new way of incorporating her ledger art into wearable art pieces. Shirts, dresses and skirts flow with the bright colors and stories that Good Day’s ledger narrative pieces tell. She hopes they give the person wearing the items strength. “I create for Native people,” she said. “I always put Native people in a positive light. We wear our culture, and I want them to feel pride in it.” For certain works, she will envision how they may be used as a print for one of her pieces of clothing. “I want to create beauty in this world,” she said.

Reshaping the world and giving it an Indigenous feel is at the center of Northern Arapaho and Seneca artist Dallin Maybee’s work. Growing up as an avid comic book reader, Maybee was drawn to pop culture. When he saw ledger art pictography for the first time, he recognized their storytelling potential, like characters in comic books. “These guys were like superheroes,” he said.

Incorporating his illustrating and beading skills, Maybee began experimenting with his ledger art by drawing upon those pop culture references. For example, two of his pieces feature SpongeBob SquarePants and the characters from the children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are,” but they are reimagined with an Indigenous twist. “Everyone sees themselves in these stories, … [like] that crazy little Max figure character getting into trouble and letting his imagination run away with him,” he said. “It’s just a small leap to Indigenize the characters and what they are doing.”

Maybee also makes ledger pieces that are personal to him, including his family in Wyoming and his accomplishments in the courts where he practices federal Indian law. His artwork “Conductors of Our Own Destiny” was born out of an idea he had with one of his professors who wanted to discuss the effects of the railroad system on American law. Maybee reimagined that to tell a story of the devastation caused by trains in Indian Country as well as Indigenous peoples’ resilience. Created over the course of five months on a tanned bison hide, this 8- by 7.5-foot piece features a multitude of scenes, including cars mixed with horses to show how Native people can adapt, lodges representing relatives and a parade that highlights culture and traditions.

“Our ancestors had the fortitude and strength to evolve and just simply do what they needed to do to survive,” the Colorado-based artist said. At the center of the hide is a beaded train with a Native man as the conductor, symbolizing how Indigenous people have taken control of their own destiny. “We are guiding that journey, regardless of these horrible things that happened to us,” he said. “We’re driving it.”

Indigenous artists are also driving the future of ledger art. Terrance Guardipee remembers a time when he went to an art market and narrative artists had a small corner to display their work. Now, they have a wall to fill with their cultures’ stories. “That’s powerful,” he said.

 

---

UNBOUND: NARRATIVE ART OF THE PLAINS

Warrior-artists from the Native nations of North America’s Plains have long practiced a pictorial style of illustration. Today, both men and women draw upon their cultural traditions, personal experiences and artistic sensibilities as they continue to shape the Plains narrative style. In 2012, the National Museum of the American Indian commissioned new works from 11 prominent narrative artists from Native nations that traditionally practiced pictorial storytelling. Each artist created works that embody his or her distinctive style and voice. The following are some of those artists and a sample of their contemporary works as well as a few of the historic stories that are featured in the “Unbound” exhibition. 

---

Historical Art

Warrior Art 
Male warrior-artists traditionally painted tipis, buffalo robes and shirts with scenes of accomplishments such as taking horses, killing enemies or rescuing wounded comrades. These depictions served as public reminders and as validation.

On this shirt, for example, are three battle scenes organized horizontally from top to bottom. Each tells of a victory by the warrior drawn on the right. The victor is the same individual, as indicated by the repetition of a shield bearing two dots, each with a zigzag. 

During the 1800s, as the buffalo were decimated, artists increasingly used cloth and paper, including ledger books. Warrior-artists used the new media to provide intricate chronicles of their own and others’ exploits. Often created with factory-made pens, pencils, brushes, ink, crayons and watercolor, such drawings provided a means of cultural revival during the early years of the reservation era, from 1870 to 1920.

Man’s shirt (back), Upper Missouri region, circa 1840; deerhide, horsehair, porcupine quills, human hair, glass pony beads, paint, pigment and sinew; 46" x 65" x 2". 17/6345. Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

Art from Fort Marion
Some of the best-known works of Plains narrative art were created by southern Plains warriors who were incarcerated from 1875 to 1878 at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Seventy-two Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa men were arrested at the end of the Red River War and held at the military prison in an attempt to ensure the peaceful behavior of their tribes. Officials encouraged the prisoners to produce objects for the tourist trade, providing them with drawing paper, pencils, ink, crayons and paint. Many of the warriors responded with illustrations of pre-reservation life on the Plains as well as their new experiences of incarceration. Below is a depiction of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson meeting a Kiowa chief (center right). The first commander of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Cavalry, Grierson was committed to peaceful relations with southern Plains nations but was instrumental in enforcing reservation-era policies. The other figures in the drawing are members of the cavalry.

“Leut Grierson Meeting the Kiowas on the Sweet Water,” Zotom (Kiowa), Florida, circa 1875; paper, graphite and colored pencil, 7.8" x 10". 20/6232. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Zotom, one of the warrior-artists who had been incarcerated at Fort Marion in Florida, 1880.

Photographer unknown. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library 1041021. 

 

From Past to Present

Viewed together, Plains narrative artworks from the past and present reflect a strong sense of cultural identity. As life on the Plains changed, artists used pictorial storytelling to record the past and preserve their culture. Hallmarks of the narrative, or ledger, art form—representational figures, strong solid colors, events shown in sequence and stylized symbols—are visible throughout this exhibition. 

Winter Counts
A winter count is an illustrated calendar history in which a drawing of an important or unusual event represents each year. The annual cycle is marked from winter to winter, hence the calendar’s name. Each Plains community may have kept its own winter count. Most often, respected members of the community determined which event should represent the entire year. An artist-historian illustrated the event. Since winter counts can span several decades, usually more than one artist-historian contributed. This winter count begins in 1798 and ends in 1902. 

“Long Soldier Winter Count,” North Dakota; circa 1902; muslin and paint; 35" x 71". 11/6720. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Long Soldier (Hunkpapa Lakota), who described the drawings in this winter count, circa 1877. P17005. Photo by Orlando Scott Goff. 

 

In Martin Red Bear’s winter count below, he illustrates significant events from 1980 to 2004. Some recall personal occasions, such as when Red Bear, his children and their pets watched a lunar eclipse in 1983. Others are significant community events, such as former President Bill Clinton’s 1999 visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation. 

“Red Bear’s Winter Count,” Martin E. Red Bear (Oglala/Sicangu Lakota), 2004; canvas and acrylic paint; 45.9" x 45.7". 26/8020. Photo by NMAI Staff. 

In his work, Martin E. Red Bear integrates contemporary life with his tribal identity. Photo by NMAI Staff. 

 

War Deeds
This elkskin robe records the war honors of Mountain Chief, a Blackfeet chief. His accomplishments are among those most often depicted on Plains robes and panels. Mountain Chief is known to have led battles against Sioux, A’aninin, Cree and Assiniboine enemies. As shown on this robe, he led horse raids and war parties against his enemies and killed bears (painted in blue in the lower left corner). Each inverted U-shape indicates a war party effort. The nearby crescent symbols with an S-shape extending downward from the center record Mountain Chief’s success as a scout discovering enemy camps. 

Elkskin robe, attributed to James White Calf (Blackfeet), circa 1920; elkhide and paint; 68" x 61" x 2". 22/1878. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Frances Densmore records Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1916. Photo by Harris and Ewing P19125.

This elkhide (below) shows six scenes of war deeds achieved by David Dragonfly’s great-grandfather Little Calf, the head chief of the Blackfeet during the mid-1800s.

“Little Calf’s War Record,” David Dragonfly (Blackfeet/Assiniboine), 2010; smoked elkhide and earth paints; 76" x 64". 26/8014. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Born in Kalispell, Montana, and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation, Dragonfly often draws upon his Blackfeet and Assiniboine heritage in his designs. Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

Child’s Play
Lakota children likely used this model tipi as a toy. Battle scenes decorate it, just as they would a full-sized painted tipi. The scenes depicted here may feature a close relative of the child for whom the toy was created. 

Lakota painted model tipi, North Dakota or South Dakota, circa 1890; hide, wood, porcupine quills, tin cones, feathers, horsehair, paint, sinew and twine; 28" x 22". 2/9535. Photo by NMAI Staff.

As an artist who experiments with mixed media, James Yellowhawk was attracted to this mid-1900s Coleman model tent (below), which he saw in an antique shop. “I had this idea that it would be really nice to carry something from the old again to the new . . . to take designs from an old tipi and put them on a new, contemporary tent,” he said. The illustrations tell the story of a buffalo hunt, with the top depicting the night sky.

“Wacipi Oti,” James Yellowhawk (Cheyenne River Lakota), 2012; cotton cloth, fabric webbing, aluminum, metal, zipper, thread, hide, wool felt, feathers, wood, velveteen, cotton tape, ink and acrylic paint; 16" x 34.2" x 20". 26/9167. Photo by NMAI Staff.

James Yellowhawk grew up on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. He first experimented with other mixed art before creating ledger art that combines his heritage with contemporary objects. Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

Contemporary Expressions

During the reservation era, from 1870 to 1920, the focus of Plains narrative drawings began to change. Many of the drawings had been created for Native viewers, but non-Native peoples increasingly were interested in purchasing them. Accordingly, artists less frequently illustrated battles against white adversaries. Instead they depicted scenes of buffalo hunts, courtship and family life.  

The floral designs encircling the women in this drawing echo decorative features on the traditional items they are making. Although Good Day is depicting her own family, she said, “It could be any Native family. As women, and as Indian women, we learn and we teach.” 

“We Learn from Our Grandmothers,” Lauren Good Day (Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/Plains Cree); 2012; antique ledger paper, colored pencil, graphite, ink and felt-tipped marker; 13.7" x 16.7". 26/9021. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Lauren Good Day is descended from 19th-century ledger artist Bloody Knife, an Arikara warrior whose drawings are in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives. Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

Drawn as solid dots inside circles, stars form the background of this portrait of Chief Bacon Rind, one of the last of the Osage chiefs. The stars reference the Wah Zha Zhe, or Osage, creation story about people stepping down from the stars. 

“Wah Zha Zhe Creation,” 21st-Century Ledger Drawing No. 54, Chris Pappan (Osage/Kaw/Cheyenne River Lakota), 2012; antique ledger paper and graphite; 22.6" x 16". 26/8975. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Chris Pappan said of his art, “I intentionally distort portraits because people have a distorted idea of Native people. As artists and keepers of culture, we have a responsibility to promote the truth.” Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

This drawing shows a ceremony in which an older woman is transferring a sacred headdress to a younger woman to bring her into the War Bonnet Society. The red sash indicates a female headdress. Both men are wearing blankets around their waists out of respect for the sun, as one sings and the other proclaims war stories. 

“Blackfeet Headdress Transfer,” Terrance Guardipee (Blackfeet), 2012; antique ledger paper, graphite, colored pencil and ink; 8.4" x 13.7". 26/8908. Photo by NMAI Staff.

Guardipee is well known for painting and drawing horse riders, warriors, spiritual leaders, society ceremonies and tipis. As background media, he uses antique ledger paper, receipts, checks, music paper and maps. Photo by NMAI Staff.

 

This doll is a collaboration between Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty and her brother Darryl Growing Thunder. He drew the horse-raiding scene on the dress. She made the doll and completed the bead- and quillwork. 

“Doll with Honor Dress,” Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty (Assiniboine/Sioux) Darryl Growing Thunder (Assiniboine/Sioux), 2009; hide, muslin, porcupine quills, beads, ribbon, brass thimbles, brass spots, paint and horsehair, 20.8" x 10.6" x 2.8". 26/7725. Photo by NMAI Staff.

     

Juanita Growing Thunder and Darryl Growing Thunder. Photos by NMAI Staff.

 

Dallin Maybee describes this piece as an Indigenized approach to Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” a book he enjoyed as a child and read to his own children. 

“An Indian Rumpus,” Dallin Maybee (Northern Arapaho/Seneca), 2012; antique ledger paper, graphite, colored pencil and ink; 15" x 10.7". 26/8965. Photo by NMAI Staff. 

Dallin Maybee is a contemporary ledger artist who explores identity and the interplay between traditional and contemporary Indian life. His work addresses how these forces have allowed Indigenous cultures to evolve, survive and flourish. In addition to antique ledger pages, his media have included pages from the 1583 Geneva Bible, 16th-century rice paper, rawhide and buffalo robes. Photo by NMAI Staff.