Subject Matter
Battle exploits dominated ledger art. Other traditional themes such as hunting, courtship, and religious practices were common subjects. Ledger artists also documented their rapidly changing environment by portraying encroaching European Americans and new technologies such as trains and cameras. Many ledger artists worked with ethnologists, by documenting shield and tipi designs, ethnobotanical information, winter counts, dance customs and regalia, and other cultural information. Dreams and visions inspired ledger art just as they had inspired earlier hide paintings.
The artists creating ledger art today often reference pre-reservation lifeways, historical transitions, sand social commentary. They use this style to illustrate cultural continuity between historical and contemporary Native life.
Read more about this topic: Ledger Art
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or matter:
“As long as male behavior is taken to be the norm, there can be no serious questioning of male traits and behavior. A norm is by definition a standard for judging; it is not itself subject to judgment.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 1 (1991)
“Everything that is necessary is also easy. You just have to accept it. And the most necessary, the most natural matter on this planet is death.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)