Daniel Oliver Gallery is proud to present a collection of images focusing on the lives of Native American tribes in the early 1900’s.
Foremost, we must acknowledge the reality that this show is being presented on the land of people from the Arapaho, Arikara, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Nez Perce, Sheep Eater, Sioux, Shoshone and Ute tribes. While we view these images in reverence of the people who once called this land home, it does not go unrecognized that the subjects of the works have thus far not benefited from their representation. Contending with this, a percentage of profits from this show will be donated to the Wind River Reservation, as well as the Standing Rock Sioux, and the Blackfeet Nation. Thanks to the unique perspective and foresight of the photographers and participants, we are able to have a glimpse into cultures with limited photographic documentation.
Photographers Frank Bennett Fiske (1883-1952) and Hart Merriam Schultz also known as Lone Wolf (1882-1970) both documented the people of Indigenous tribes on reservations in the early 1900’s, primarily life among The Sioux and The Blackfeet Nation. Fiske and Schultz both lived with said tribes during a pivotal time for indigenous groups in the United States, after a period of abrupt and violent resettlement. The Piegan Blackfeet and Lakota Sioux tribes were struggling due to the series of broken promises alongside racist policies imposed on them by the United States Government. Fiske and Schultz both had deep personal relationships with the tribes that they lived with, allowing them to have a more nuanced understanding of a population that few had the care and commitment to know.
Frank B. Fiske’s family moved to Fort Yates in 1889, where Fiske attended the Fort Yates Boarding School for Indian Children. Since his youth, he was attuned to the hardships of these communities and the increasingly oppressive regime of forced assimilation. This separates him from other portraitists or ethnographers of the time, because unlike many, Fiske grew up and lived among the subjects of his photographs.
In 1900, seventeen year old Fiske took over the photo studio of S.T. Fansler at Fort Yates. Fort Yates is located in what is now Sioux County, North Dakota, the tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. During Fiske’s photographic career he was able to capture over 2,000 iconic images of Sioux tribal members. Fiske’s photographs follow in the tradition of Orlando Scott Goff, David F. Barry, and S.T. Fansler. These men were some of the earliest photo portraitist of the Sioux. Fiske primarily captured images in the Fort Yates studio where he would have his subjects placed in front of a painted background. The background usually depicted a hazy camp scene or the likes of a Victorian garden. Fiske’s photographs are astoundingly crisp, allowing for one to study in detail the subjects being represented. Not only are Fiske’s photographs visually beautiful but since the time of their initial printing they have served as a document for those looking to gain insight into Sioux culture.
Christian F. Schuster spent a massive portion of his life immersed in Native American ways of life. He was a lumber man and amateur archaeologist from Holyoke, Massachusetts, who spent a series of seventeen summers living with the Piegan Blackfeet tribe beginning in 1923. He was given the name Morning Eagle (Aainiakoi Plitaa) by the Piegan chief, Curly Bear, in an adoption ceremony. The photographic collection here documents his adoption by the Piegan tribe. Composed of sixty-three photographs, this is a striking visual record of American Indian life from this period, due to the sympathetic and anomalous eye of the photographer as well as the hybrid technique of watercolor, pencil, and photographic exposure at work in the images.
The images show life among the Blackfeet several decades after their last buffalo hunts had failed in 1882, during a period in which government policies had made reservation life difficult. James Willard Schultz (Akipuni) is featured in several of the images along with Curly Bear, Stabs-by-Mistake, Red-Boy, and many others. The images show candid scenes of Piegan life during the period. The transition to reservation life is apparent in both the scenes and the captioning, with the Piegan leading a semi-nomadic life limited by the absence of the buffalo and abusive government policy.
Within this period of Native American photography, these representations stand out due to their expressionist quality, with imprecise and vibrant brushstrokes communicating artistic intent and lending to a poeticism which strives beyond the service of historical documentation or government sponsored record. For example, image 7 which is captioned “Bear-Head and Medicine-War bonnet are inspecting the set up of my tepee by their women.” This image has a subtle beauty to it with the blue sky above the rolling purple hills serving as a backdrop to Bear Head and Medicine War Bonnet. The coloring of this image, like many others, does not bind itself to reality. Instead, it allows itself to be much more subjective. The simplistic captions and the awe inspiring images, in conjunction, tell a compelling story both about the enigmatic artist and the highlighted figures.
Schuster himself took at least some of the photographs, as noted in the captions. However, the identity of the photographer and colorist are unconfirmed, the photographer is thought to be Hart Merriam Schultz also known as Lone Wolf (Ni-Toh-Mah-Kwi-I), the son of James Willard Schultz, who was a prolific artist and illustrator during this period. Hart’s mother was a Pikuni Blackfeet. Hart was born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. One can assume that he was friend to many of the subjects photographed in the collection.
During the course of their lives, Fiske, Schultz, and Schuster were all witness to enormous hegemonic shifts due to westward expansion. Their commitment to showing this shift as well as to the communities which they endeared themselves to is evident in their photographs, but ultimately it must be recognized that they were able to partake in cultures and fulfill their artistic ambitions while still being removed from the pain and hardships of their people. In viewing the photos from these men we reckon with the implications of their gaze as well as our own and hope that it inspires conversation in terms of how we can help be a positive force in the years to come.