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Joseph H. Henry Sharp Catalogue

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Chief Short Bull (Head #1)

According to Sharp's sales ledgers, this portrait was sold to Butler in June 1906. (Sharp Papers)

Sharp noted:  “Short Bull, contemporary with tho [sic] younger than Sitting Bull—small in size & I think he had the most remarkable mind of all the Sioux.  He was not only a great Medicine Man, but a clever diplomat and Machiavellian politician.  His twinkling eyes and pleasant expression forever made unfathomable his mind & thoughts to others.”  

 

Sharp never mentioned Short Bull’s fame as a leader of the Ghost Dance practices. However, he maintained that “Chief Short Bull, a great Chief and medicine man, whom I consider a much smarter man than Sitting Bull and not such a coward….”  

Chief Short Bull (Head #1)

Alternate Title:

Short Bull - Sioux

Record ID: 335

Date: ca. 1905

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: 14 x 10 in.

Signature / Inscription: LL: J.H.SHARP.

Owner: Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

Accession Number: 913-O-514


Provenance:

The artist; Joseph G. Butler, Jr., Youngstown, OH, 1906; present owner by gift, 1913

Related

Created concurrently with Peter Hassrick's 2018 Whitney West publication The Life & Art of Joseph Henry Sharp, this online catalogue highlights more than 700 works by J.H. Sharp that are held in public collections.