Thought to have been painted on Pine Ridge Reservation. Red Cloud died shortly after this portrait was completed, at age 80, in 1902.

Sharp visited Pine Ridge and the Sioux in 1900 and was fortunate to have Red Cloud sit for him. In the catalogue entry written by Sharp for the Gilcrease Foundation exhibition of 1949, Sharp wrote that Red Cloud was "one of the world's great warriors. Very prominent as leader of the Sioux in the Custer Battle. Prominent as the leader in the Red Cloud War (1866-67)."

Sharp made an etching of this portrait, related image, #72a.

Red Cloud

Alternate Title:

Red Cloud, a Great Sioux Chief

Record ID: 72

Date: ca. 1900; [1890]

Medium: oil on canvas board

Dimensions: 14 1/2 x 11 3/4 in.

Signature / Inscription:

LL: J.H.SHARP / PINE RIDGE, S.D. UL: RED CLOUD

Owner: Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK

Accession Number: 0137.393

Provenance:

The artist; [?]; Dr. Philip G. Cole, Tarrytown, NY; Thomas Gilcrease, Tulsa, OK; The Thomas Gilcrease Foundation, Tulsa, OK, 1955; present owner by gift

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.

Red Cloud

Related

Red Cloud (ca. 1900)

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