EXPO Chicago 2024

Donald Ellis Gallery is pleased to participate in EXPO Chicago 2024, held at the Navy Pier Festival Hall, April 12-14, with an invitation-only preview on April 11.

The exhibition showcases the pictographic traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains, with a particular focus on Ledger Art and pictorial muslins and hides. Historically, figurative drawing on the Great Plains was a predominantly male domain. Warrior artists recorded their war exploits on buffalo hides worn as robes, tipi liners, and personal shields. With the establishment of Euro-American trading posts and the decimation of the great buffalo herds these earlier traditions were transferred to the newly available media of muslin and paper. The exhibition features several pictorial muslins as well as an extraordinary group of Ledger Drawings dating to the last decades of the 19th century, a period during which figurative art on the Great Plains flourished. These works speak to the status achievements of individual protagonists, including warfare, hunting, and ceremonial life with remarkable visual eloquence. The gallery will also present two rare pictorial hide paintings created by George Bull Child (1893-1969) in the 1940’s. A generation too young to live the life of a traditional warrior, Bull Child depicted the exploits of his ancestors for sale to collectors and was also commissioned to paint works for dignitaries visiting Glacier National Park, Montana. Collectively, the works in this exhibition exemplify the breadth and artistic virtuosity of Plains figurative drawing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.