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Cheyenne Sun Dance—The Third Day

Walter Richard "Dick" West Sr., Wah-pah-nah-yah or Wapah Nahya, Light Foot Runner Native American

1949

Not on view

This painting is one of Dick West’s masterpieces and a classic example of his portrayal of traditional Cheyenne life. The work provides details of the Sun Dance, an annual Plains ceremony celebrating the regeneration of the living earth. Here, West conveys the visual richness of this most sacred event, representing important elements—the ceremonial altar, ritual acts, and symbolic body paint—with great accuracy. Although the U.S. government banned the Sun Dance during the early days of reservation life, around 1880–1900, the ceremony flourishes today.

Cheyenne Sun Dance—The Third Day, Walter Richard "Dick" West Sr., Wah-pah-nah-yah or Wapah Nahya, Light Foot Runner (Native American, Southern Cheyenne, Oklahoma, 1912–1996), Casein on paper, Southern Cheyenne — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Cheyenne Sun Dance—The Third Day

Artist: Walter Richard "Dick" West Sr., Wah-pah-nah-yah or Wapah Nahya, Light Foot Runner (Native American, Southern Cheyenne, Oklahoma, 1912–1996)

Date: 1949

Geography: United States, Oklahoma

Culture: Southern Cheyenne

Medium: Casein on paper

Dimensions: 24 5/8 × 35 1/8 in. (62.5 × 89.2 cm)

Classification: Paper-Paintings

Credit Line: Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Museum purchase (1949.20)

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The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.