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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0101

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[photo] [Indian camp under the moonlight]
Photo credit: Early California and Western Art Research, 1983
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 30 x 50 in (75 x 127 cm)
Inscription: said to be l/l "F. Schafer" (not visible in the photograph)
Provenance: Sold 9 June 1983 for $2000+10% by Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, as lot 2217 in sale 3330P.
Reproductions: Butterfield & Butterfield 9 June 1983 sale catalog; Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #65 (color, 1983)
Site: Great Plains (Montana?)
Description: A dramatically intense moonlit scene with low rolling hills in the background. Several decorated tepees in a camp, with campfires in front; the nearest tepee has a signpost in front. (Appears to be another view, from a viewpoint slightly to the right, of the same camp depicted in [Indian camp in Winter 1].) About eight Indians are seated around the campfire in front of the nearest tent; the campfire illuminates them with a red glow. Two riders on horseback stop to talk to a standing figure at the edge of the group. Another horse and rider head toward a distant tepee. Farther away on the left, there are gatherings and campfires in front of several other tepees. The sky is cloud-filled and dark, the moon is bright yellow and directly ahead, so the horses cast shadows in the direction of the viewer. (From a color photograph.)
Note: See the list of Indians in desert locales for several possibly related paintings.
Identification: Descriptive title of unknown origin, from the 1983 sale catalog. The Early California and Western Art Research index identifies the slide with the 9 June 1983 sale.
In index(es): Title list, Indian encampments as primary subjects, Indians in desert locales, moonlight nocturnes and other scenes showing the moon

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility