Sun Dance Painting
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.An unknown artist created this painting of the Sun Dance, the most sacred of all Plains Indian rituals. Here, within the traditional enclosure, twenty-one standing figures face a center pole. In an effort to achieve spiritual alignment with the forces of the natural and supernatural worlds, the men—dressed in war regalia—raise their right hands to the sky as they sing, dance, and pray. Spectators appear outside the Sun Dance lodge.
Artwork Details
- Title: Sun Dance Painting
- Date: ca. 1890
- Geography: United States, North or South Dakota
- Culture: Lakota (Teton Sioux)
- Medium: Pigment on muslin
- Dimensions: 24 × 66 in. (61 × 167.6 cm)
- Classification: Textiles-Paintings
- Credit Line: Donald Ellis Gallery, New York
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing