American Art Collaborative

“ . . . I was interested mostly in painting the great chiefs, warriors, and character as they impressed me.” Unpublished letter from Joseph Henry Sharp to Mr. Ewers, August 9, 194
Hand was a Sioux Indian of Pine Ridge from the northern Plains. In this portrait he wears a buffalo-hide sash and feathers that identify him as a warrior and chief. His weathered face and piercing eyes reveal a proud but weary man. In the summer of 1899, Joseph Henry Sharp visited the Crow Agency in Montana, where many tribes, including the Sioux, attended a Crow Council. It is possible that he painted Hand from life, but he likely completed the painting in his studio using a photograph, a common practice of the artist. (Sharp to Mr. Ewers, August 9, 1948; Fenn, The Beat of the Drum and the Whoop of the Dance, 1983