Magazines - Tribal Art Autumn 2011

By Michelle Delaney, director of the Consortium for Understanding the American Experience and senior program officer for the Office of the Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution.

Introduction
In 1898, New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934) embarked on a deeply personal project, creating a set of prints that rank among the most compelling of her celebrated body of work. Käsebier was then on the threshold of a career that would establish her as the leading portraitist of her time in the United States as well as an extraordinary art photographer and one of the few Americans accepted into the prestigious international photographic salons of Europe. Her new undertaking was inspired by viewing the grand parade of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West troupe en route to Madison Square Garden for several weeks of performances. Käsebier had spent her childhood on the Great Plains and retained many vivid, happy memories of living near, and playing with, Native American children. She quickly sent a letter to William “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846–1917) requesting permission to photograph the Sioux Indians traveling with the show. Within a matter of weeks, Käsebier began photographing the Indian men, women, and children, both formally and informally. Friendships developed through this unique and special project, and her photography of these individuals continued for more than a decade.