Ledger art

also: Ledger drawing · Plains Indian ledger art

tradition 1860s-1920s; revived 1960s-present Great Plains (United States) North America

Ledger art is narrative drawing and painting on paper, practiced chiefly by Plains Indians from the 1860s to the 1920s, with a revival from the 1960s onward. It evolved from Plains hide painting: when the buffalo herds were destroyed, artists turned to the paper that traders, agents, missionaries, and officers supplied - above all accounting ledger books, which gave the form its name. Pencil, ink, crayon, and watercolor let artists record battle exploits, hunts, courtships, ceremonies, and the new machinery of reservation life with eyewitness urgency. Some of the best-known artists - Howling Wolf among them - drew as prisoners of war at Fort Marion, Florida, between 1875 and 1878, selling drawings to visitors. The tradition continues today, with contemporary artists using ledger conventions to assert cultural continuity between historical and contemporary Native life.

A Kiowa ledger drawing possibly depicting the Buffalo Wallow battle in 1874, a fight between Southern Plains Indians and the U.S. Army durin
A Kiowa ledger drawing possibly depicting the Buffalo Wallow battle in 1874, a fight between Southern Plains Indians and the U.S. Army durinPublic domain (credit: Unknown author Unknown author) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Narrative pictorial scenes: figures in hard outline filled with flat fields of solid color
  • Action-focused compositions that strip away background and unnecessary detail
  • Careful rendering of regalia, horse trappings, shields, and warrior insignia
  • Occasional x-ray convention revealing internal power or organs
  • New drawing media on ruled accounting paper: pencil, ink, crayon, and watercolor
  • Name glyphs and signature pictographs identifying the artist and subjects

Key figures

  • Howling Wolf (c. 1849-1927) — Southern Cheyenne Fort Marion prisoner whose eyewitness battle drawings are among the tradition's most vivid
  • Silver Horn (Haungooah) (1860-1940) — Kiowa master illustrator whose ledger drawings document Kiowa life across the reservation transition
  • Jaw (His Fight) (c. 1853-1924) — Hunkpapa Lakota artist who drew 87 of the Amidon Ledger's 107-plus drawings
  • Carl Sweezy (1881-1953) — Southern Arapaho artist who established a professional easel career from ledger drawing

Example works

Sources

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