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Shield

Datec. 1860
DimensionsOverall: 22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm)
Object numberT0048
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextShields were among the most important possessions of Plains warriors. The images painted on the shields were inspired by warriors’ dreams or visions, resulting in some of the most individual expressions in Plains Indian art. The image on the shield protected the warrior in battle, not the physical construction of the shield. Great care was taken in order to maintain the shield's sacred power. This shield shows a white animal with a long tail, said to represent a mountain lion, below a green curve representing a rainbow.
Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.

"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceMountain Lion Crossways; Spotted Mountain; Buffalo That Bellows; Bad Man; Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (12/741), New York 1923; R. Huber; D. J. Petersen; Howard B. Roloff, Victoria, British Columbia; Elaine Horwitz, Santa Fe, New Mexico; James Havard, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyHeritage, Vol.11, no.4, cover.

Maurer, Evan M. The Native American Heritage: A Survey of North American Indian Art. Chicago Art Institute of Chicago, 1977, pl. 16 and pp. 176-177, fig. 220.

H.B. Roloff Ltd. Advertisement in American Indian Art Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 1 (Winter 1980): 5.

Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.30.

Penney, David W. Arts des Indiens D'Amerique du Nord. Paris: Terrail, 1998, pp.92, 94.

Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris, Somogy, edition d'Art, 1999, p. 58, fig. 43.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.160.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 66.

Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 15.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 180.
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