Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill is an 1885 studio photograph of Lakota leader Sitting Bull and entertainer Buffalo Bill. It was taken at the studio of Canadian photographer William Notman in Montreal, where both subjects were on tour as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. It is unknown whether Notman himself is the author of the photograph, but it was later copyrighted by American photographer David Francis Barry.

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill
Restored version of the photograph
Artist	William Notman & Son
Year	1885
Medium	Photography (silver salts on glass, gelatin dry plate process)
Subject	Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill
Location	Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The black-and-white portrait shows Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill standing in front of a painted backdrop of a dense forest. Buffalo Bill gazes towards an imagined horizon, as Sitting Bull appears motionless. The two subjects' opposing allegiances during the Great Sioux War of 1876, nine years prior, led the photograph to be captioned "Foes in '76, Friends in '85". Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill is considered an emblematic image of American history and culture. It is also among the last photographs of Sitting Bull, who was killed by police in 1890.

Background

Great Sioux War of 1876

Buffalo Bill (right) and George Armstrong Custer (left), posing for a buffalo hunt organized for the visit of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (center)

Showman, soldier and hunter William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, was a supporter and past acquaintance of famed cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer. In 1876, during the Battle of the Little Bighorn (or "Custer's Last Stand", part of the Great Sioux War), Custer commanded the 7th Cavalry Regiment against an alliance of Native American tribes led by Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull. The battle resulted in a major victory for the Native Americans, as well as the death of Custer.

That same year, Buffalo Bill joined the 5th Cavalry Regiment. A month after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, he found success as a showman through the dramatization of his role in a skirmish at Warbonnet Creek, in which he killed and scalped Cheyenne warrior Yellow Hair and allegedly proclaimed the event as "the first scalp for Custer", in honour of the recently deceased general.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West

Nine years later, in 1885, Sitting Bull was living in a South Dakota reservation after an exile in Canada. Buffalo Bill invited him to join his show Buffalo Bill's Wild West, which had begun touring two years prior. Sitting Bull accepted the invitation, with the consent of American authorities, as a way to leave the reservation. During the shows, he would do a simple lap around the arena. He was often booed by the crowd, although not in Montreal, Canada, where the show arrived on August 10, 1885. It performed there for a week, in the neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint-Charles.

Session

Solo portraits of Sitting Bull taken during the same session as Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

During their stay in Montreal, Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill took part in a photography session for publicity purposes. It was held at the studio William Notman & Son. Its founder, William Notman, was known for his portraits of celebrities. It is unknown who was the author of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill and other photographs from that session, although art historian Sarah Parsons considers it "reasonable to assume that when celebrities came to the studio, Notman would have been involved in the session, if not operating the camera". American photographer David Francis Barry copyrighted the work in June of 1887. Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill was published with the caption "Foes in '76, Friends in '85", in reference to its two subjects' opposing allegiances during the Great Sioux War of 1876.

Description

Sitting Bull, on the left, and Buffalo Bill, on the right, stand on a hay-covered floor in front of a painted backdrop of a dense forest. Sitting Bull wears a large headdress. He and Buffalo Bill jointly hold a Winchester rifle by the barrel. Neither of them looks directly at the camera. Sitting Bull gazes downward, seemingly motionless. He is turned slightly towards Buffalo Bill, who gazes off towards an imagined horizon. His right hand hovers over his chest and his left foot is stepping out.

Analysis

In an analysis of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, Innu cultural figure André Dudemaine, describes an intentionally theatrical image in which "one plays along, the other does not". He refers to Buffalo Bill, who "gladly strikes a pose, exaggerating it just a tad", in contrast to Sitting Bull's "motionless stance" and his eyes, which "find a way to signal that they are not looking where they are being told to". Dudemaine interprets Buffalo Bill as "substituting Custer", with his similar moustache and goatee, and writes that Sitting Bull portrays himself as "a proud fighter capable of valiantly resisting the assaults of the conqueror". He argues that "the conqueror", like the photograph, is flouted by Sitting Bull's "untameable interiority".

Legacy

André Dudemaine described Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill as a "mythical photograph" and "an icon of American popular culture". Historian Jean-François Nadeau described it as "the most famous photograph of the Western legend". Along with other portraits taken during the same session, it is among the last photographs of Sitting Bull, who was killed by American police in 1890.