Synopses & Reviews
An artistic community unique in American history flourished in St. Augustine, Florida, between 1975 and 1978. Some 70 Plains Indians, Imprisoned for their refusal to accept life on the reservations, produced an extraordinary body of work that chronicled their history, their lives, and their experience of exile from the freedom so central to their heritage Called "ledger art" after the large lined books that in most cases were the first form of paper they used, these remarkable pencil and ink depictions are vivid evocations of a poignant chapter in American history.
A superbly annotated reproduction of one such ledger, originally presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the late 19th century. Warrior Artists is alive with color and movement, and presents more than 50 eloquent drawings by two of the finest practitioners of this traditional narrative art.
Synopsis
An artistic community unique in American history flourished in St. Augustine, Florida, between 1975 and 1978. Some 70 Plains Indians, Imprisoned for their refusal to accept life on the reservations, produced an extraordinary body of work that chronicled their history, their lives, and their experience of exile from the freedom so central to their heritage Called "ledger art" after the large lined books that in most cases were the first form of paper they used, these remarkable pencil and ink depictions are vivid evocations of a poignant chapter in American history.
A superbly annotated reproduction of one such ledger, originally presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the late 19th century. Warrior Artists is alive with color and movement, and presents more than 50 eloquent drawings by two of the finest practitioners of this traditional narrative art.
Synopsis
In 1875 the U.S. Army imprisoned approximately 70 Southern Plains warriors whom they considered threats. Held at Fort Marion in Saint Augustine, Florida for three years, the warriors were given ledger paper, pencils, and ink and were encouraged to draw as part of the attempt to "rehabilitate" them. From this artist's colony hundreds of drawings were done, most of which are lost.
Historians consider the ledger book by two young prisoners Making Medicine (1844-1931) and Zotum (1853-1913), to be the finest example of its kind. Warrior Artists is a beautiful, historical facsimile of their work and an account of the phenomenon of ledger art. Sixty vibrant color pencil-and-ink drawings depict the Fort Marion experience including the attempted suicide of Lean Bear during transport, and the attempted escape of Grey Beard who was shot after he escaped from the train.