Chief Blackbird, Ogalalla Sioux

Chief Blackbird, Ogalalla Sioux

1903
Artist
Adolph Alexander Weinman, American, 1870–1952
Born: Germany
Work Locations: New York
Country
United States
Object
sculpture
Medium
Bronze
Accession Number
2013.35
Credit Line
Funds from the DAM Westerners, in honor of Lucy and Jim Wallace

Adolph Alexander Weinman, Chief Blackbird, Ogalalla Sioux, 1903. Bronze; 16 3/8 x 16 ¼ x 12 ½ in.
Funds from the DAM Westerners, in honor of Lucy and Jim Wallace, 2013.35

Dimensions
height: 16 3/8 in, 41.5925 cm; base width: 11 1/2 in, 29.2100 cm; width: 16 1/4 in, 41.2750 cm; depth: 12 1/2 in, 31.7500 cm
Inscription
Lower right side at base: Line 1: "CHIEF BLACK," Line 2: "BIRD," Line 3: "OGALALLA SIOUX" Line 4: "A. WEINMAN"
Department
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
Collection
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
This object is currently on view

Chief Blackbird was a veteran of the Great Sioux War and Battle of the Little Bighorn, both of which took place in 1876. By the turn of the 1900s, the chief performed in Colonel Frederick T. Cummins’s Wild West and with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, traveling throughout the country and to Europe. Such spectacles profited from Indigenous labor but also allowed performers to engage with aspects of their culture and religion denied on reservations.

El jefe Blackbird era veterano de la Gran Guerra Sioux y la Batalla de Little Bighorn, ambas ocurridas en 1876. Hacia principios del siglo XX, actuaba en los “espectáculos del Salvaje Oeste” presentados por el coronel Frederick T. Cummins y por Buffalo Bill, con quienes viajó por Estados Unidos y Europa. Este tipo de espectáculo, si bien lucraba del trabajo de los indígenas, les permitía a estos estar en contacto con aspectos de su cultura y religión que les estaban prohibidos en las reservas.

Known Provenance
"Private Collection"; (Scottsdale Art Auction) Scottsdale, AZ; The Denver Art Museum, April 6, 2013
Exhibition History
  • "The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925"—Nanjing Museum, 09/29/2014 - 01/18/2015