Status Symbols by western artist Howard Terpning

Status Symbols by Howard Terpning.

 

What the plains warrior wore or carried often told much about his life. Here a Crow, haughty in his status, has wrapped himself in a buffalor robe painted with the scenes of his triumphs on the hunt and in warfare. His lance is decorated with feathers. Many men adorned lances, war shields, or even their horses' bridles with scalps taken from their enemies. The shield here carries the warrior's depiction of a buffalo. Almost certainly it is made from the thickest part of a buffalo bull's hide, stretched across a hoop and braces made of willow or other pliable woods and stuffed out with buffalo hair or other materials which will give it strength. ( The Art of Howard Terpning - Elmer Kelton).

 

Print released 1986.