Painted elk hide. Attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody), Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. c. 1890-1900 C.E. Painted elk hide.
Cotsiogo began depicting subject matter that "affirmed native identity" and appealed to tourists. The imagery placed on the hide was likely done with a combination of free-hand painting and stenciling.
Form:
- Artist named Cotsiogo, American name is Cadzi Cody
- Known for his numerous animal hide paintings on deer, elk, and buffalo using natural pigments such as chalk and red ochre
- Was a member of the Eastern Shoshone tribe
- Essential in the transformation from traditional and even ancient tribal methods and art into a modern society and art form that fits into the
contemporary Western society
- Pigment used on elk hide
- Animal painting tradition used to record history
- Combination of free-hand penciling and using a stencil
Function:
- Multifunctional, working for both the economic and cultural benefit of the Wind River Reservation
- Led to economic development because it created sales from white visitors and also led them to attend Sun and Wolf dances, in which they would
also spend money
- Important as a cultural survival statement for the tribe, as it helped move the once antiquated and ancient tribe artwork into the modern world by
making it increasingly contemporary
Content:
- Combines contemporary tradition to the historical record of tribes
- Displays important ritualistic Sun Dance and Wolf Dance
- Sun Dance was especially ceremonial and used to honor deities
- Depicts daily life on the Wyoming reservation such as men hunting buffalo on horses and women sitting near fires at a campsite (teepee)
- Warriors shown in feathered war headdresses to show their honor and importance
Context:
- painting on animal hides is a long-lasting tradition in the Great-Basin region of the U.S.
- functioned to preserve history, similar to the oral tradition of story-telling
- Animals such as horses and buffalo on the painting were especially important to livelihood, as Buffalo was a source of food and horses were used
during hunting.
- An era of intense poverty on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, important because this artwork kept both the culture and economy alive
Themes:
- The individual and society
- Ancient vs. modern world
- Beliefs and values
- Cultural traditions
- Nature
- The relationship between man and animals
- Passage of time
Cross-Cultural Connections:
- The practice of calligraphy in the modern world
- An ancient Chinese tradition that has been adopted into the modern world
- This has kept the ancient Chinese culture alive
- Presentation of Fijian mats and tapas cloths to Queen Elizabeth II
- Demonstrates the clear distinction and contrasts between the still heavily ancient third-world and the modern, western world
- Similar to the distinction between the Indian reservations and the rest of the evolving United States that Cotsiogo helped to diminish.
Sources:
- https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/indigenous-americas/a/eastern-shoshone-hide-painting-of-the-sun-dance-attributed-to-cotsiogo-cadzi-cody
- http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/pdf/2011Poster.pdf
