| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 20 x 36 in (51 x 91 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r "F. Schafer", fraktur hand, underlined |
| Provenance: | With Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, 8 October 1980. With Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, 17 March 1982. |
| Reproductions: | 8 October 1980 sale catalog 3117, lot 321; 17 March 1982 sale catalog 3192, lot 185; Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #54 (color, 1980) |
| Site: | Great Plains (Montana?) |
| Description: | A desert scene with low rolling hills in the background. Eight decorated tepees in a camp; the nearest has a signpost in front. In front of each tepee is a campfire which casts a red glow in its door. In the foreground, a woman with her back to the viewer carries a papoose; a child follows. Other figures are in and around the tepees. The bright, blue-grey foreground and the sky, which is filled with a luminescent sunset, contrast with the dark tepees silhouetted against the sky. There is a complete absence of framing elements, emphasizing the openness of the prairie and the sky above. (From a color photograph.) There are several other Plains Indians genre paintings that appear to be closely related. These paintings of Great Plains Indians all have similar compositions. Each includes a "big sky" with the horizon extending from edge to edge and a high mountain range so distant that it stands low on the horizon. In addition, these paintings are unusual in that the genre element dominates the landscape (staffage in Schafer's paintings are usually incidental to the landscape rather than the main subject). Finally, in each the underlying landscape appears to be a high-altitude desert such as that found in Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, or Montana, rather than the prairie grassland of Wyoming and points farther east. The Shasta State Historic Park has a 20 x 36 "Indian Camp" by Jules Tavernier that is very similar in composition and content to the paintings of this group; another similar Tavernier painting was on display at the Garzoli Gallery in San Rafael, California, in 1989. |
| Identification: | Descriptive title of unknown origin, as found in the 1982 sale catalog. The identification of the tribe as Sioux is not confirmed; the title may be based on the tepee decoration or costume. The 8 October 1980 sale catalog gives the title as Sioux camp. The Early California and Western Art Research index identifies the slide with the 8 October 1980 sale; it also identifies the same painting as appearing in the 17 March 1982 sale. |
| Other title(s): | Sioux camp, winter sunset (Early California and Western Art Research index) |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img0377.jpg)