Oglala Fire (Chief)

or
Ogallalla Fire; Oglala Fire (headdress)

Generously provided by The Rockwell Museum

Sharp painted at least three portraits of this Sioux man, all of them in the artist’s hometown of Cincinnati in 1898. One, a profile view, was sold to Joseph G. Butler, Jr. of Youngstown, Ohio, in 1899 and was reputedly Sharp’s first sale of a western subject. (Record 105) A second portrait of the model, Oglala Fire, pictures the Sioux man in a brimmed hat with a quiver over his left shoulder. This version belongs to a private collector. (related image 92a)

Somewhere in Cincinnati, Sharp found a full-length Sioux eagle feather bonnet and dentalium shell breastplate (perhaps from Henry Farny’s studio) to dress Oglala Fire in for this third portrait from the Rockwell Museum. According to Sharp’s sales ledgers, it was sold to S. M. Felton of Chicago in 1902 along with another Sioux portrait of Walks the Country, also from the Rockwell Museum, that had been shown at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 (Pan-American Official Catalogue, #184) Walks in the Country, however, was painted on the Sioux Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, rather than in Ohio.

Peter H. Hassrick

Artist: Joseph Henry Sharp
Date: 1898
Catalogue Number: 92
Medium: oil on panel
Inscriptions: LL: COPYRIGHT / 1898 BY / J.H.SHARP.

Dimensions: 13 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.
Credit Line: The Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY
Accession Number: 75.59 F
Subjects: Sioux, bonnet, portrait

The artist; S. M. Felton, Chicago, IL, 1902; [?]; The Rockwell Foundation, Corning, NY; present owner by purchase

It is thought that this bonneted version of Oglala Fire was exhibited at the Cosmos Club in 1901. It was listed as being sold to S. M. Felton of Chicago in April 1902 as "Ogallalla Fire - Headdress." (sales ledgers, Sharp Papers)

Oglala Fire (Chief)

Related