“This youth going dance/ Both like dance” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“Like drawing Nº27, the subjects here are two young Sioux men dressed for courting. Wrapped around their waists are blankets with beaded blanket strips attached (blankets were used in courting; see Nº8). One man carries an elaborate tomahawk, the other an eagle-wing fan.

The horses are as well dressed as their owners, one having feathers attached at the mane and tail, the other having its tail braided and tied. The two young men ride through the camp as indicated by the five tipis, four shown from a side view and the fifth (the furthest on the right) seen from the front. All the tipis have their smoke flaps open. In typical fashion, great depth is shown by stacking objects one atop the other. In this case, the tipis are above the young men.” (p.32)

William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.