Sharp purchased a Blackfeet buffalo hide teepee in 1905 and brought it south to Crow Agency as a prop and an auxiliary studio.  It became the subject of many studies such as this. The teepee could be seen from the window of his permanent studio, so Sharp would not necessarily have had to go outdoors to paint it. A smaller study of the same structure is seen in other Stark Museum works like related image, # 635.

Stark Museum’s label text: Sharp moved from Cincinnati to a cabin near the banks of the Little Big Horn River on the Crow Reservation. He came west to paint Indian portraits and wanted to live among his subjects. His residence in Montana gave him new vistas, many from his studio windows. He was able to envision traces of traditional Indian life, as in this representation of a buffalo skin tipi set in a spring landscape.