Original Ledger Drawing from the Black Hawk Ledger Book [SOLD]

Black Hawk was a member of the Sans Arc Lakota tribe, a nomadic tribe that followed the buffalo that they depended on for food, clothing and other necessities.  By the end of the 19th century, herds had been hunted almost to extinction by settlers.  Black Hawk was hard-pressed to feed his family during this time.  To help him overcome this dilemma, William Edward Caton, the Indian trader at the Cheyenne Agency in Dakota, hired him to document his tribe’s history in ledger form.  He paid him 50 cents for each page.  Caton gave him sheets of lined writing paper, colored pencil, and a pen.  Black Hawk produced seventy-six drawings over the course of the winter of 1880-1881, netting him $38.  In 1994, the book sold for nearly $400,000 at auction.

Caton provided Black Hawk with individual sheets of paper rather than a ledger book.  When he acquired all the drawings from Black Hawk, Caton had them bound in a leather cover.

There is little known about Black Hawk after he produced these ledger drawings.  He is no longer listed in the Cheyenne River Agency records after 1889.  It is speculated that he was killed at Wounded Knee in the newly formed state of South Dakota in December of 1890.

The Original Ledger Drawing from the Black Hawk Ledger Book is floated on fabric material so that the full page is visible.  It is framed in a hand-made wood gold leaf frame by Perspectives Fine Art Framing, Santa Fe.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance:  originally from the personal collection of Joe Rivera, at the time Director of Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe.  He sold it to a previous owner in 1994 or 1995 who then gifted it to his sister in Santa Fe from whom we acquired it.