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Catalog Data

Artist:
Elbridge Ayer Burbank, born Harvard, IL 1858-died San Francisco, CA 1949  Search this
Sitter:
Geronimo  Search this
Medium:
oil on board
Dimensions:
12 x 10 in. (30.4 x 25.4 cm)
Type:
Painting
Date:
1899
Luce Center Label:
Geronimo was a medicine man and highly respected Apache leader who fought to protect his tribe from the government’s Indian policies. He avoided capture several times, but in 1886 he surrendered and was sent with other Apaches to a reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Thereafter, he served as a government scout, worked as a farmer, and joined the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a public figure who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West touring show, Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration, and the St. Louis World’s Fair. Elbridge Ayer Burbank’s uncle Edward Everett Ayer commissioned the artist to paint portraits of Native Americans, and Geronimo was his first subject. In this half-length painting, Burbank showed Geronimo in profile. The great Apache seems still to be on guard, turning warily to confront an approaching visitor. (Truettner, ed., The West As America: Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920, 1991)
Topic:
Indian\Apache  Search this
Portrait male\bust  Search this
Occupation\other\chief  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Given in memory of Doris and James Snell, friends of the artist
Object number:
2000.68
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Painting and Sculpture
On View:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 32B
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk73be4d20e-2359-4412-8c1d-c7f85f42b0ad
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_2000.68