Kenneth Riley (1919–2015)
Mandan Buffalo Dance (1977)
acrylic on board
30 × 30 inches
signed and dated lower right
Riley biographer Susan Hallsten McGarry wrote that from the Lewis and Clark journals, “Riley was excited by the Mandan Indians, who hosted the Corps of Discovery during the fall and winter of 1804-05.… Riley’s introduction to the lifeways and material culture came from two additional epic adventurers [George Catlin and Karl Bodmer] that were recorded in pictures and words.… Catlin’s passion greatly affected Riley, who embarked on a series of works that honored the explorer artist by using his words and his pictures to create paintings … to document the Indians before civilization forever changed them.”
PROVENANCE
The artist
Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, Arizona, 1978
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Toll, Tucson, Arizona
Private collection, Tucson, Arizona
Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Reno, Nevada, 2014
Private collection, Albuquerque, New Mexico
EXHIBITED
The Great American West, Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, Arizona, 1978
LITERATURE
Southwest Art, May 1978, front cover, illustrated
The Great American West, Settlers West Galleries, 1978, illustrated
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Condition
Surface is in excellent condition. No signs of restoration.