This portrait is of Dick Spotted Elk whose father, Spotted Elk/Big Foot, died in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. There were at least five versions of this sitter's portrait produced. The earliest was shown in the Cincinnati Museum in 1900 and again at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC in 1901. (#162; another example is related image, #222)

Chief Spotted Elk - Sioux; [Spotted Elk]

Alternate Title:

Spotted Elk, Sioux

Record ID: 84

Date: 1906

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: 20 3/4 x 14 5/8 in.

Signature / Inscription:

LR: J.H.SHARP. / 06.

Inscribed on dust cover: Chief Spotted Elk-Sioux 1904-05 A very important man to his tribe-Several diplomatic trips to Washington over complicated affairs-President Grant gave him the medal.

Inscribed on dust cover: Sioux - At Pine Ridge, S.D. and other agencies always in trouble with Gov'mt.- Obstreperous.- Army officer, replacing an agent said to me.- If the Lord Jesus Christ came to Pine Ridge Agency, in three weeks they would file charges against him and prove it! Only a few malcontents, but they were clever propogandists.

Owner: Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK

Accession Number: 0137.413

Provenance:

The artist; 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.

Chief Spotted Elk - Sioux; [Spotted Elk]

Related

Spotted Elk (1905)

Chief Spotted Elk - Sioux

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