PICTOGRAPH

White Swan

Paint/Cloth/Beads/Hide

ca. 1880

Gift of Isabel Haynes

1978.38.105

In a centuries-old tradition, Plains Indians men painted narrative scenes like this one on buffalo robes, hides, and tipis to chronicle their personal feats, memorializing and making public their heroic deeds. White Swan - a young Crow warrior who served as a scout for the US Army during the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn - painted the lower half of this magnificent robe about 1880. A prolific artist, White Swan (ca. 1850—1904) often depicted events from the famous battle in his artworks. On this robe, however, he illustrates his exploits in intertribal warfare. Here, among other heroic deeds, he is shown counting coups on his enemy and stealing a gun in hand-to-hand combat. A different artist painted the battle scene on the upper half of this robe and an unidentified female artist beaded the central blanket strip.

Crow