Research Catalog

Title

The five Crows ledger : biographic warrior art of the Flathead Indians / James D. Keyser.

Author

Keyser, James D.

Publication

Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, [2000], ©2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 105 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map; 25 cm

Summary

• "Ledger art derives from Plains Indian Biographic art, which recorded actual events important in the lives of individuals and groups, usually as naturalistic action scenes composed primarily of horses, humans, weapons, and tipis. The earliest surviving expressions of Northern Plains ledger art were drawn in 1834 by the Mandan warriors Four Bears and Yellow Feather (encouraged by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer), but ledger art did not become commonplace on the Plains until after 1860.".
• "The earliest drawings remain relatively unknown; some have been lost, while a few still exist in various archives. One of these is the "Five Crows Ledger," a series of thirteen drawings collected, described, and annotated by Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet during his missionary work to the Flathead Indians of western Montana from 1841 to 1847. Deposited in a Jesuit archive for more than one hundred and fifty years, it was rediscovered in the early 1990s."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Shilchelumela > Criticism and interpretation
• Indian ledger drawings > Great Plains > History
• Salish art > History
• Salish artists > Biography

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-102) and index.

Contents

Biographic art: the evolution of an art form -- Jesuit contact with the Flatheads -- Ambrose: Flathead warrior artist -- The five Crows ledger -- Analysis of the art -- The five Crows ledger and the biographic art lexicon -- The Flathead Indians: plains or plateau?

ISBN

0874806593 (alk. paper)

LCCN

00008207

OCLC

• ocm43441265
• SCSB-14545563

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries