Ledger Drawing

Date:
1884
Geography:
United States, Oklahoma
Culture:
Cheyenne or Arapaho
Medium:
Paper, pencil (lead and colored), watercolor, crayon, leather binding
Dimensions:
W. 11 3/4 in. (pages)
Classification:
Paper-Drawings
Credit Line:
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1968
Accession Number:
1978.412.207P34
  • Description

    The Maffet Ledger is named for George West Maffet, who in the 1880s lived in Darlington, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), where he was a newspaper publisher. There, he got to know Indian men who filled ledger books with drawings that gave narrative to their lives, depicting times of heroism and freedom. The Maffet Ledger is one of those books. In this drawing, attributed to the Northern Cheyenne [Richard] Wooden Legs (1858-1940), an army officer is fighting a member of the Crazy Dog Society. The Crazy Dog Society was a warrior society, and the Chief wears its full-feathered headdress topped with antelope horns. Tracks of the swift antelope form the pattern on the arms and chest of his shirt. He is striking his enemy with a captured army saber.

  • Provenance

    George West Maffet, Indian Territory, collected in 1884–(d.) 1924; by descent to Samuel Ross Maffet; Karen Daniels Peterson, St. Paul, Minn., until 1968; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1968–1978

  • See also
    Who
    What
    Where
    When
    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
50011733

Close