LAKOTA LEDGER DRAWINGS
from the Amidon Ledger Book

October 2  - November 2

#109 “Mounted Warrior Hunting a Bison” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 109 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼

#217 “Warrior with a Trailer Bonnet on a Blue Horse” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 217 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

These drawings were in a ledger book that turned up at a small courthouse lawn sale in Amidon,  North Dakota in 1995. The book was found in a box of “used dictionaries” - there is no specific collection history. It is believed to be the work of three different Lakota artists, all working in the 1880’s and depicting events of the time.

 In one drawing, there are two Lakota men on one horse, both wearing wool blankets, One of them is holding a tomahawk with a cut-out heart and a long beaded drop.  Clearly they are not going to war and the tomahawk is a prestige object. Other drawings depict grass dancers and horse riders - there is even one of a rider hunting a buffalo which by the time of the drawing would have been an increasingly rare activity. 

In many ways, these drawings acted as memory devices for the artists. The earliest Plains artists to work in this tradition recorded their war exploits but by the time these were made, the Indian Wars were long past and the concerns of the artist were more ritual or social in nature.  Nevertheless, they remain art documents of a time and a way of life depicted by its participants in a drawing style specific to their culture.


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#85 “Grass Dancer with a Painted Pony Tracks” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 85 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#55 “Painted Warrior Carrying a Shield with a Lance” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 55 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#57 “Mounted Warrior with War Paint and Shield” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 57 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#69 “Crow Warrior with a Fan on a Horse” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 69 Circa 1880 Graphite on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#95 “Men with Bows at Camp” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 95 Circa 1880 Graphite on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#247 “Dismounted Warrior with a Yellow Horse” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 247 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#53 “Warrior with a Bear Hat on a Horse” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 53 Circa 1880

#155 “Grass Dancer with a Rattle” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 155 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

#43 “White Man on a Yellow Horse” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 43 Circa 1880 Graphite and color pencil on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”

“Horse with Two Riders” Lakota, The Amidon Ledger Book, page 95 Circa 1880 Graphite on blue lined ledger paper 13 ½” X 8 ¼ ”