Big Face Chief: A stalwart member of the north Pecunnie band of Blackfeet. His necklace as eagle wing fan mark him as a Medicine Man
St. Paul, MN: Great Northern Railway, [1940]. Color print [30.5 cm x 23 cm] in nice, bright condition. Near fine. Item #5420
Winhold Reiss (1886-1953) was a painter, illustrator, and interior designer who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1913, where he taught art for a time at the Art Students' League. In 1919 he traveled to Montana to paint portraits of members of the Blackfeet nation. Reiss depicted his subjects as they were, without the romanticization that many of his fellow artists at the time were using to depict Native Americans. During the summers from 1927 to 1948, Reiss spent in Glacier National Park studying and drawing members of the Blackfeet, these trips were sponsored by the Great Northern Railway, who acquired the majority of these works, and used them in promotional material.
Price: $15.00