A painted Lakota style tipi.

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Some years ago I had the privilege to study in detail the Lakota painted battle tipi (tipi pestola is the

Lakota word for a pointed dwelling) at the Denver Art Museum. It is not large, perhaps standing only about 12' high, but is crowded with some wonderful scenes of personal coups and horse stealing. I took many photographs and this experience inspired me to think about painting my own tipi with battle scenes.

I have studied and painted in the old Plains Indian style for about eighteen years and I had always admired lodges with full battle scenes, a celebration of machismo in three dimensions! The combination of the tipi shape and movement and the sway of the horses, to me, creates a wonderful graceful appearance.

There are a few battle canvas lodges still in collections dating from the late 1800s. I took inspiration from two, one at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) and another in the collections of the Smithsonian Institutes's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI cat. 207873.000). Finally, the photographs of the magnificent Lakota lodges taken by Frank B. Fiske at Fort Yates, N.D. were of great interest to me. These appear to be the work of the Standing Rock Lakota 'His Battle' (Okicize Tawa) commonly know as Jaw. Although the whereabouts of these lodges, if they still exist, are at present unknown. Fortunately we do have a few photographs from different angles in various collections.

The Denver Art Museum lodge, according to the museum's records, has been attributed to the work of Standing Bear, Lakota, and dated 1884. I am guessing this is because the name Standing Bear has been written on the lodge cover. This possibly refers to the name of one of the warriors depicted, or one of the artists or both. None of the characters on this tipi are in the style of the Minneconjou Lakota Standing Bear, (later Baptized Stephen Standing Bear) best known for his illustrations in Black Elk Speaks (Neihart 2004). I have found several different styles suggesting that this was a collaboration of at least six artists. One of these styles, which the author has seen elsewhere (American Museum of Natural History, catalog number 50.2/6590) is credited to Turning Bear (Mato Kawinge), a Sicangu Lakota.

The NMAI battle tipi is dated circa 1910 and was collected in 1945. (cat # 207873.000) It is also Lakota and is another collaborative work. One of the artists is His Battle who had a Hunkpapa mother and Itazipcho (Sans Arc) father. This tipi frames the action with a painted red band around the bottom and red smoke flaps. The direction of the action on these two lodges are different. The movement on the DAM lodge goes straight across from left to right as if it had been painted flat on the ground, with the smoke flaps at the top. Looking at it from the front, when pitched, the direction of the horses appear to be going up one side and down the other. There is a good deal of negative space in this design. In the NMAI lodge the action starts at the center back and horses go from that point facing away from each other until they meet at the front. They curve horizontally around the shape of the pitched lodge. These characters are closer together and show great skill in depicting a horse facing right, a more difficult task for a right handed artist. Finally, the tipis in the Fiske photographs depict characters that are more evenly spaced and, most face left and, like the NMAI lodge, follow the contours of the shape of the lodge.

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By the late 1800s warrior artists were using commercial artist materials like graphite, watercolor, colored inks and even wax crayon. It is possible that some native pigment was also used. In time all these materials would have caused problems due to weathering and would have faded or run. I wanted to emulate that old time style, not too neat and a little raw. I have seen some contemporary painted tipis painted in bold strong acrylic colors but for my taste that looks too modern and clean, though I understand the need for durability.

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Painting Technique

Utilizing a friends flat roof, I first laid out the cover and penciled out the horses and characters sometimes using two cardboard horse templates. Based on my research, I believe these were occasionally used in historic pieces. In my design I wanted to follow the Fiske tipis, the action going from right to left, typical of a right handed artist. I then outlined and painted each character over a large table in my studio. I used India ink for the outline and black areas, acrylic watered down to a watercolor consistency and a little colored pencil. It took me about seven weeks to complete. Over this I sprayed a synthetic resin archival varnish with UV protection to seal the pencil and ink. I understand that the color, on a newly painted tipi, after about 24 hours pitched in sunlight, will seal fast (We first pitched this in 109[degrees] sun so that should help!).

This is a 14 foot lodge and I wanted plenty of characters so as to give the impression of a larger lodge. Also, I like the movement of a crowded design. It's basically in the Lakota / Cheyenne style but there are depictions of Arapaho and Kiowa. All the scenes are from my imagination, but intended to look historical. I am careful not to depict scenes of actual people or historical events as I feel I do not have the right.

I'm very pleased how this project turned out and I'm wondering what would be the next stage in this development? Maybe I will be given the opportunity to paint larger lodges and perhaps try a few other tribal styles.

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Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Doug Hilke, Ron Andereg, Richard Green, Mike Cowdrey, Putt Thompson, Earthworks Tipis and Ross Arnold for their help in this project. Also to the memory of a friend, Colin F. Taylor, for his enduring encouragement.

About the Author

Originally from England, Peter L. Bowles is an artist and researcher and now resides and works in Los Angeles.

Bibliography

Neihart, John G. (2004). Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.