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HUNTING SCENE: Man Running with Gun Shooting 3 Turkeys + 3 Other Birds on Branch

Ethnographic Notes

p. 28-29 HUNTING SCENE. Diptych, Man on Foot Shooting Six Birds p. 28 Six birds sit on one long, limb of a tree. The entire drawing is lead pencil. The limb is horizontal on the page to accommodate the drawing. The proportion of the birds to the branch is out of scale; this gives the effect of a stylized drawing rather than realistic depiction. No talons show on any of the birds as they perch along the foliage. The numerous leaves are needle-like, and they attach singly to the limb, like fir or spruce needles. They may be stylized narrow deciduous leaves or conifer needles. Three birds on the right half of the vegetation resemble the birds of Plates 10 and 13 (golden eagles?), with striped (not barred) tailfeathers. Their bodies are shaded completely and uniformly; their beaks are distinct. They bleed from unseen wounds. The three birds on the left hand side have white (unfilled) long necks, dark bodies, and distinct tailfeathers. The tailfeathers and neck are uncolored (white), and the bodies are filled with pencil shading. Media: Lead pencil outlines, details, fill p. 29 The hunter, on foot, is a man with loose hair, no ornaments or face paint, and the hatch-marked cloth shirt of Plates 14 and 15. He aims a rifle with no visible stock, possibly a carbine. His breech clout is red with undyed edges, and his trousers appear to be blue cloth. His figure leans from left to right, as though running. His feet are rudimentary. This is one of the distinctive features of the Dodge City ledgers drawn by Hagetta (Wild Hog), Porcupine, and other Northern Cheyenne men. Candace Greene wrote Ramon Powers the following interpretation: "almost all the figures" [in the Wild Hog and other Northern Cheyenne ledgers from 1879 Kansas State Historical Society ledgers] feet are hoof-like, and seldom in these ledgers are feet or moccasins drawn in normal proportion" (see Low and Powers, 2012: 13). Marjane Ambler quotes Notame'hehe, or North Woman, in "Coming Home" (We, The Northern Cheyenne People, 2008: 30), whose oral account compares the Northern Cheyenne refuges to buffalo herds that scatter in cold weather. Gail Small, a descendant of Fort Robinson Breakout survivor Iron Teeth Woman, tells of the fleeing Northern Cheyenne people having no moccasins (Lawrence, Kansas talk at Haskell Indian Nations University, 12 August 2009). Human figures in all four ledger art notebooks associated with Wild Hog and other Northern Cheyenne prisoners in Dodge City have this characteristic of hoof-like (or bare ?) feet rather than moccasins. Media: Lead pencil outlines, details, and fill; blue and red crayon


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Provenance

Drawn in 1879 by Northern Cheyenne leader Porcipine in Dodge City Jail. Dodge City, Kansas; purchased by L.M. ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 16
Page No: 28, 29
Media: pencil and crayon
Dimensions: 13 X 9 cm
Custodian
The Sch�yen Collection. London and Oslo. http://www.schoyencollection.com/aboutus.html
Artist
Porcupine
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