Images of the Buffalo Culture — Ronald McCoy

At its core, Plains Indian artwork was utilitarian. During the Plains Indian Wars of the 1860s and '70s, as tribes contended with the United States Army for control of the prairies--conflict leading to the advent of the reservation period, which began in earnest in the 1870s--warrior-artists preserved these memories and more in pencil and ink, enlivened with bold lines and bright colors, on pages of ledger books obtained through raid or trade. Many ledger drawings epitomize a transitional period in Plains Indian art as the buffalo died out and buffalo culture followed, yet these images of the buffalo culture retain a capacity for reviving that distinctly American dream of a strange and wonderful frontier just beyond the horizon. Learn more about Native American art during this tumultuous period in this article, made available by The World & I Online.