General Custer in Blue and Green

[NNadir]

1996 Earl Biss (1947-1998), Native American (Crow Nation)

At the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear NNadir!

Ah, a painting of Custer by a Native American.

No wonder Custer's face looks like a grotesque mask. And is that blood dripping down from his beard?

A provocative painting for sure...

Thank you!

[NNadir]

3. I meant post number 2 to respond to your post.

Thanks.

It was my pleasure.

[NNadir]

2. Earl Biss was a very important Native American Painter.

I first became acquainted with his work during a ski trip to Aspen when I was a younger (and somewhat richer in an irresponsible way) man.

I followed his career for many years, but as his paintings sold for a high price, never of course, owned one and there was a time (to my regret) that I was trying to see if I could put enough money together to buy one. I couldn't.

A motif that appeared in may of his paintings showed Native Americans on horseback in transcendently colored landscapes, always vague figures melding into the environment.

His paintings have been displayed around the world, and were displayed in US embassies as part of a cultural outreach. For a short while he painted in Europe.

Biss died in 1998 of a stroke while painting. He had been sickly for much of his life, having suffered heart damage from rheumatic fever as a child. He was 51 years old. It was a terrible loss for American Art.

As far as I am aware, this is his only painting with this kind of subject. He couldn't have felt all warm and fuzzy about General Custer, that's for sure.