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拍品专文
In June 1837, Alfred Jacob Miller traveled West for the annual fur-trader's rendezvous, departing St. Louis for the Green River in present day Wyoming. During his trip, Miller created over 150 preliminary sketches and watercolors, which he later used to render finished compositions in both watercolor and oil. The subjects of these works were most frequently genre scenes of life in the American West, including depictions of both fur trappers and Native Americans, at leisure and engaged in action, such as in Crow Indians Attacking a Buffalo with the Lance Near the Sweet Water River.
The present work delivers an action-packed scene in which two Crow Indians gallantly surround and spear their target with impressive lances. Miller’s romantic depiction of a regal native in the midst of a brave act represents the unique, inextricably linked relationship of the Native American and the American Bison; “In the annals of human history there has perhaps never been another animal that has proved more integral to the cultural, spiritual, or economic fabric of a people than the buffalo was to the Plains Indians.” (E.J. Dolin, Fur, Fortune, and Empire, 2010, p. 297) This subject was a favorite for Miller to which continuously returned in both oil and watercolor throughout his career. Other examples in a similar format to the present work include Buffalo Hunt (circa 1838-42, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas) and Killing Buffalo with the Lance (1858-60, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland), respectively.
With its precise detail and vibrant color, Crow Indians Attacking a Buffalo with the Lance Near the Sweet Water River epitomizes Millers unparalleled ability to capture the spirit of a fleeting American West. “Miller’s paintings were dreamy, timeless, and quintessentially Romantic.” (F. Flavin, “The Adventurer – Artists of the Nineteenth Century and the Image of the American Indian,” Indian Magazine of History, 2002, p. 1) As in the present work, Miller went beyond the documentary focus of peers like George Catlin and Karl Bodmer in his emphasis on narrative and an admiring romanticisation of his subject, resulting in some of the earliest truly artistic renditions of the American West.
The present work delivers an action-packed scene in which two Crow Indians gallantly surround and spear their target with impressive lances. Miller’s romantic depiction of a regal native in the midst of a brave act represents the unique, inextricably linked relationship of the Native American and the American Bison; “In the annals of human history there has perhaps never been another animal that has proved more integral to the cultural, spiritual, or economic fabric of a people than the buffalo was to the Plains Indians.” (E.J. Dolin, Fur, Fortune, and Empire, 2010, p. 297) This subject was a favorite for Miller to which continuously returned in both oil and watercolor throughout his career. Other examples in a similar format to the present work include Buffalo Hunt (circa 1838-42, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas) and Killing Buffalo with the Lance (1858-60, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland), respectively.
With its precise detail and vibrant color, Crow Indians Attacking a Buffalo with the Lance Near the Sweet Water River epitomizes Millers unparalleled ability to capture the spirit of a fleeting American West. “Miller’s paintings were dreamy, timeless, and quintessentially Romantic.” (F. Flavin, “The Adventurer – Artists of the Nineteenth Century and the Image of the American Indian,” Indian Magazine of History, 2002, p. 1) As in the present work, Miller went beyond the documentary focus of peers like George Catlin and Karl Bodmer in his emphasis on narrative and an admiring romanticisation of his subject, resulting in some of the earliest truly artistic renditions of the American West.