Amos Bad Heart Bull - Becoming An Artist

Becoming An Artist

As a young man, Amos Bad Heart Bull showed interest in the history of the Oglala, and began to draw pictures depicting their traditional lifeways and events. The people had a tradition of drawing pictographs to show history, generally drawn and painted on animal skins. This was known as the winter count. Amos' father was the tribal historian and used such a technique.

In 1890, Amos Bad Heart Bull enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Indian scout and learned to speak English. He served at Fort Robinson with his uncle Grant Short Bull. During this time, he purchased a ledger book from a clothing dealer in nearby Crawford, Nebraska. He used its papers for drawing a series of pictures. In the process, he adapted traditional Native American pictography techniques to the new European medium of paper.

This was part of a development called Ledger Art, named for the accountants' ledger books used by Native Americans for their drawings and paintings. It was particularly associated with the art produced in the late nineteenth century by Native American men held at Fort Marion in Florida. They were held for more than a decade as prisoners of war, or political prisoners, following the Plains Wars. In addition to classes in English and other topics of United States society, the fort's officials provided the men with drawing materials and ledger books for their work. The collection of ledger books is held by the Smithsonian Institution.

After returning to Pine Ridge after serving his enlistment, Bad Heart Bull made his living as a small cattleman. He became the tribal historian of the Oglala Lakota, as his father had been before him. After the allocation of communal lands of the Pine Ridge Reservation under the Dawes Act, Bad Heart Bull received his land allotment along Black Tail Creek northwest of Oglala, South Dakota, near other members of the Soreback Band.