Study of a bear II
Charles M. Russell and Friends
Fort Reno Ledger Drawing
Scope and Content Notes
Two men on horseback greet two other men wrapped in red and blue blankets, one with a beaded blanket strip, and wearing similar red quillwork hair ornaments. Ledger drawings usually show horses in profile, but in this case a horse – with split ears indicating his value in hunting buffalo and warfare – is facing forward. Umbrellas, such as the two carried by the men, are commonly featured in Southern Plains reservation-era ledger drawings. From the article: Preserving History in the Southern Plains: Cheyenne and Arapaho Ledger Drawings from Fort Reno, Plains Indian Art, Created in Community. Emma I. Hansen, Curator Emerita and Senior Scholar for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, 2016.