In this painting Eastman has effectively captured a colorful spectacle and recorded ceremonial costumes with exacting detail. He and his wife witnessed the Dakota Dog Dance performed before a Chippewa audience; Mary Eastman recorded her impressions of it, writing: "The Sioux warriors formed a circle; in the center was a pole fastened in the ground. One of the Indians killed a dog, and, taking out the heart and liver, held them for a few moments in a bucket of cold water, and then hung them to the pole. After a while, one of the warriors advanced toward it, barking. His attitude was irresistibly droll; he tried to make himself look as much as possible like a dog, and I thought he succeeded to admiration. He retreated and another warrior advanced with a different sort of bark; more joined in, until there was a chorus of barking. Next, one becomes very courageous, jumps and barks toward the pole, biting off a piece of the flesh; another follows and does the same feat. One after another they all bark and bite."4 This was repeated as additional dogs were thrown into the circle. According to Schoolcraft, "the object of the ceremony is, they say, that those who eat the liver, while it is raw and warm, will become possessed of the sagacity and bravery of the dog.' 115 4 Mary Eastman, Dahcotah; or Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling (New York: John Wiley, 1849), xiii-xiv. The band council, led by a chief empowered by inheritance, was the principal governing body of the Santee Dakota. The bands were composed of clans, each of whom appointed twenty councilors. Councils were called upon for many types of decisions, especially those related to the bison hunt and to treaty negotiations. In this painting, Eastman depicts the standing chief decked out in his war bonnet. A gable-roofed summer lodge, or tipitanka, is shown alongside the conical winter tipi made of skins, perhaps to show the various types of Dakota dwellings. A portrait of Red jacket, the famous Iroquois chief, is introduced into the center of the image. Eastman's Red jacket, taken from an engraving in Schoolcraft, ultimately derives from one of the best known paintings of the chief. Renowned for his oratorical abilities, the chief played an instrumental role in Indian/White relations and was awarded the large silver medal he wears in the portrait by George Washington himself. Red jacket was particularly noted for his skillful negotiations at the Great Indian Council of 1794 in Canandaigua, New York, which was attended by sixteen-hundred members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois and resulted in a peace treaty with the U.S. government. It is perhaps to this famous council that Eastman alludes. In this painting, a warrior is depicted holding a knife and scalp after defeating an adversary. This painting was removed from the collection in 1987 and restored in 1995. In 1987, then Committee Chairman Morris K. Udall (D-AZ) ordered the painting removed because it offended then Representative Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-CO) [currently Senator Campbell (R-CO)], a Cheyenne Indian, who was then a freshman on the Committee on Interior & Insular Affairs. The Curator of the Capitol, Architect of the Capitol, and Rep. Don Young, Chairman of the Committee agreed the painting should be returned so the collection would be kept intact. 6 6 The Return of an Image: House Panel's Collection "Intact" A gain, (The Washington Post, MURAL: "ON EARTH PEACE" BY ROCKWELL KENT In 1944, when 1334 Longworth House Office Building was assigned to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (now Energy and Commerce), a painting was commissioned by the Air Transport Association. A painting was commissioned to reflect the modes of transportation within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce: airplanes, automobiles, trains, and waterways. Originally assigned to paint an easel painting, Rockwell Kent decided to create a 12 foot by 15 foot mural for the $2,500 offered by the Air Transport association. Rockwell Kent only painted four murals for public private house: Cape Cod Playhouse at Dennis; Benjamin Franklin Post Office buildings and one for a in Washington, DC.; the General Electric Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair; and this mural. The General Electric mural was destroyed by fire. The mural depicts four angels overseeing farms and a city with people and commodities being transported When the Committee on Commerce moved from 1334 Longworth to the newly constructed Rayburn House Office Building in 1965, the Committee on Merchant Marines and Fisheries gained control over the hearing room. Sometime in early 1966, it was determined that the mural did not fit the overall jurisdiction of the Committee on Merchant Marines. To cover the mural, drywall was installed in the niche and curtains hung in front. The mural remained covered until1978 when the hearing room was undergoing some renovation. At that time, it was decided to reveal the mural and recondition the work. The mural is still on display in 1334 Longworth House Office Building. Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York in 1882. He attended Columbia University and studied architecture from 1900-1903. He then attended the New York School of Art from 1903-1904. Mr. Kent maintained an active left-wing tilt to his political views throughout his life. An avowed Socialist, he was accused of being a Communist in 1939 at hearing by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1950 his passport was revoked after he spoke before thee Supreme Soviet in Moscow, although it was later restored. In 1967 he received the Lenin Peace Prize in Moscow. Rockwell Kent died in Plattsburgh, New York in 1971. Additional Sources: Hunter, Marjorie, "House Committee Rescues A Mural by Rockwell Kent", |