Studies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort Laramie

Studies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort Laramie

Albert Bierstadt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bierstadt arrived at Fort Laramie, in present-day Wyoming, as a member of the expedition to the western portion of the Nebraska Territory with Colonel Frederic W. Lander in June 1859, during a time of tense relations between the Lakota (Teton Sioux) and the United States government. Bierstadt made vivid field sketches of the Native peoples he encountered there, including this powerful depiction of four leaders. The artist intently observed and recorded the clothing and physiognomy of each man, inscribing each one’s name below his head. In the foreground of the major painting that resulted from this trip, "The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak" (07.123), several of the male figures at the lower right may have been inspired by the present study.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort LaramieStudies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort LaramieStudies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort LaramieStudies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort LaramieStudies of Native American Leaders Made at Fort Laramie

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.