ETHAM K000207

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K000207

MEG Inv. ETHAM K000207
For much of the 19th century, war was a dominant feature in the lives of the Plains Amerindians and was perpetuated and intensified by a number of social mechanisms. Progression through the ranks of society was symbolized by the right to recite vivid accounts of war exploits in public and to wear emblems of achievement, including paintings of war exploits. These war paintings constitute one of the richest genres of Native American art. Created to publicize a man's wartime exploits in his community, they were painted on highly visible media, including animal-skin dresses, shirts, tipi covers. Fewer than forty paintings collected between 1800 and 1860 have been preserved and the skin shirt reproduced here is the only surviving example from the southern plains.
The images painted on the shirt depict two exploits on the front and two on the back - all appear to occur in the context of larger battles, as suggested by the rows of rifles and arrows. In three of the four scenes, the protagonist is not drawn, but his shields replace him.

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The Southwest and Northeast of North America

Most Amerindian societies in North America lived by hunting, fishing and gathering. In this immense region, three cultural groups have been selected: the Pueblos Indians (Hopi or Zuñi), who mainly occupied the states of Arizona and New Mexico, the Indians of the Great Plains of North America, scattered between Canada and the United States and, further east, the Haudenosaunee, grouping six Iroquois nations.

The Plain Indians, war and peace

The recent history of the Plains Indians was disrupted by the shock of contact with the European world: diseases, wars, usurpation of territory, forced displacement and settlement in reservations. The introduction of the horse into the region in the eighteenth century transformed several of these groups of hunter-gatherers or semi-sedentary farmers, including the Niitsitapii, the Tsitsistas/Suhtai, the Apsaalooke and the Lakota, into nomadic hunters closely linked to the seasonal migrations of herds of bison. The classic stereotype of the “Redskins” in the cinema and popular imagination comes from these groups and their new equestrian lifestyle.

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