Ohio History Journal

PRESENTATION OF PORTRAITS OF

AMERICAN INDIANS

 

 

BY GENERAL EDWARD ORTON, JR.

 

During the spring of 1924, an exhibit of the work of

a rising young American artist, Mr. W. Langdon Kihn

of New York, was shown in this city and was found to

consist wholly of original portraits of American In-

dians, made from life in their own homes, under con-

ditions which reduced their natural embarrassment,

timidity, or superstitious fear of portraiture to a mini-

mum, thus greatly favoring truthful and natural por-

traits. Mr. Kihn's drawings were mainly made with

pencil, though some were in monochrome crayon, and

some were colored brilliantly as to the subject's costume,

and decoration. His subjects in this exhibition were

mainly of the Blackfeet Tribe, and closely associated

tribes, the Piegans, the Assiniboine Sioux, etc. He had

a dozen or so portraits of southwestern Indians from

Laguna, New Mexico, whose faces bore clear marks of

the partial infusion of some Mexican, Spanish, or other

white blood.

Other exhibitions of Mr. Kihn's work have com-

prised the results of seasons spent among other Indian

tribes, the Stoneys, the Kootenay, etc.

It appears that the methods of this young painter,

which involve his living for months at a time with the

 

* Address before the Annual Meeting of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society, October 2, 1924.

(132)

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Presentation of Portraits of American Indians  133 tribe which he undertakes to study, are so unusual and so meritorious, as to give his work a certain interest in and of itself. He, and apparently he alone, has seen in the Indian a subject of sufficient interest to justify spending months in gaining his confidence and making friends, as a basis of quiet and uninterrupted portrai- ture. Added to this ingenious method is the fact of his undeniably remarkable technique as a draftsman. He has a master hand with the pencil -- firm, sure, and capable of indicating character to a truly remarkable degree. It seemed also, from another angle, that these Black- feet portraits offer an unusual opportunity to obtain a first hand record of the physiognomy of a pure and un- mixed Indian race. This record will, as the decades roll by, have a constantly growing value. The Indian races are likely to be absorbed, blended, or to pass out. In a relatively few decades, samples of the old pure blood will be scarce, and none of it will show marks of the terrible hardships which characterized the life of the Indian before he was affected by white culture. It seemed also that the collection would have added value if it represented a number of specimens of one tribe, rather than one each of several tribes. Accordingly, four portraits were selected, the de- scriptive legends of each of which are as follows:--

A-PO-TO-YE-SEE or (Name in Blackfeet Tongue) (Signature in sign writing)

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134      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications "This old man, called Shorty-White-Grass by the whites, was the oldest living warrior of the Blackfeet tribe at the time he was sketched in 1920, and was re- puted to be over one hundred years old at the time. He died in 1923. He was the father-in-law of Chief Curly- Bear. His dress is shown ornamented with the scalps of Indian enemies. During the span of this one life, America, west of the Mississippi, was changed from an untouched savage solitude, to a populous and highly ad- vanced civilization. Drawn from  life in 1920, W. Langdon Kihn."

NINA-CAW-YEU-SUE-CHES or (Name in Blackfeet Tongue)

(Signature in sign writing) "Curly Bear, only living chief of the Blackfeet. Last survivor of the famous triumvirate of chiefs who for years ruled the tribe. Born about 1835, and 85 years old when sketched. He had two wives, one of whom was the daughter of Shorty-White-Grass. This wife died in the winter of 1921-22, at which the chief was so deeply affected and brooded so much, that his friends had to induce him to change his location and lodge. Drawn from life in 1921, by W. Langdon Kihn."

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Presentation of Portraits of American Indians   135

CHES-CHES-NO-PA or (Name in Blackfeet Tongue)

(Signature in sign writing) "Called White Quiver by the whites. Famous war- rior and leader of war parties. Born about 1860, and sixty years of age when sketched. So long as there were buffalo, the Blackfeet lived well and happily. With the extinction of the buffalo came dire trouble. We call the Indian a savage, but this is not the name given him by those who have lived long and intimately with him. His skin is dark and his ways are not those of the cities, but his needs and emotions are the same as ours, and the sufferings of his wife and children, whom he dearly loves, affect him as they would affect us. Drawn from life in 1920, by W. Langdon Kihn."

NOTACNA-OHNAMUC-O- NISTA-PUKA or (Name in Blackfeet Tongue)

(Signature in sign writing) "Known to the whites as John-Two-Guns-White- Calf. He was the son of the historically famous Chief White-Calf, statesman and warrior, who was a former member of the triumvirate of ruling chiefs of the tribe. John was born about 1875 and was 45 years old when sketched in 1920. Judge and chief of Indian police.

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136      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

He is said to be the Indian whose profile was used

for years on the "Buffalo" five-cent piece of the United

States coinage, but this statement has not been clearly

authenticated. Drawn from life in 1920 by W. Lang-

don Kihn."

In this group of four portraits are men whose life

span has comprised almost the entire historical period

of the Northwest. George Rogers Clark had but re-

cently made the first illustrious overland journey to

Oregon, when Shorty-White-Grass was born in some

buffalo hide tepee in what is now Montana, and for

fifty years lived entirely unchanged in a world in which

white men entered only as traders or trappers and very

few in any capacity. He and his sons and his relatives

have seen the trackless wilds of his boyhood give place

to a complex and overbearing civilization, large cities,

knitted together by great railroads, and all the wonders

of modern life.

In addition to the romance which these and similar

speculations awaken, as one looks upon these deeply

lined and strong faces, there also arises the thought that

they will have value as ethnographic material. Our

museum is rich in material of the best kind concerning

our forerunners in this land, but we have not yet un-

dertaken in a serious way to bring out its ethnographic

significance. That is a branch of history, or pre-his-

tory, which we will undoubtedly enter in the near fu-

ture.

Animated by a mixture of all these thoughts and

emotions, and believing that these four portraits would

be valuable additions to the collections of this society,

as samples of really faithful and skillful portraits, in a

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Presentation of Portraits of American Indians  137 very original and difficult medium; as material of ethno- graphic value, illustrating the true features of a pure and unmixed Indian tribe fast passing away or becom- ing mixed and mongrel, and as material of historic value, in view of the lineage of these individuals, the undersigned decided to procure them for the Society. We have brought them together in a convenient form for preservation and now present them to this Society, together with such published data concerning the artist, or his subjects, as we have obtained. Please accept them, with assurances of our pleasure in having had the opportunity to secure them for the Society. Yours very truly, ARTHUR C. JOHNSON, JOSEPH C. GOODMAN, FRANK C. FURNISS, EDWARD ORTON, JR.

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