Howling Wolf (Cheyenne), A Southern Cheyenne Ledger Drawing, ca. 1875. Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, Virginia, has acquired a phenomenal 19th-century ledger drawing by Cheyenne artist Honanistto or Howling Wolf. The watercolor and ink piece, A Southern Cheyenne Ledger Drawing, was created around 1875 and depicts a meeting of the Bowstring Society with its leaders arriving on horseback. Roman Nose, a famous Cheyenne chief and warrior, can be seen in an elaborate headdress with bird designs. “The composition is so bold and complex,” says Michael Taylor, VMFA chief curator and deputy director for art and education. “The outline is firm and confident, and the colors are vibrant and exuberant. We knew we had found an incredible Native American ledger drawing for VMFA and are delighted to share it with our visitors.”
The acquisition was secured at a Heritage Auctions sale in Dallas, Texas, after an energetic bidding war that ended up hammering at $106,250, a world-record price for a single ledger drawing. “Ledger drawings are important to the history of Native North America both as an art form and as historical documents,” says Dr. Johanna Minich, assistant curator for Native American art at VMFA. “Acquiring a ledger drawing for the Native American collection has been one of my priorities. When this work by Howling Wolf came up for auction, Michael Taylor and I discussed it and decided that if we wanted a ledger drawing for VMFA we should do what we could to obtain one of the best. I think we got it.”
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