740

1943 Great Northern Railway Winold Reiss Blackfoot

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:70.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 300.00 USD
1943 Great Northern Railway Winold Reiss Blackfoot
Featuring the topper portion of the original 1943 Winold Reiss calendar from the Great Northern Railway Route of the Empire Builder. The piece shows artwork of Winold Reiss showing a portrait of Mountain Flower, Blackfeet Indian Maiden, Glacier National Park, Montana. F. Winold Reiss was a German-born American artist and graphic designer. In 1920 he went West for the first time, working for months on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, painting 36 portraits of tribal members. Over the years Reiss painted more than 250 works depicting Native Americans. These paintings by Reiss became known more widely beginning in the 1920 and to the 1950s, when the Great Northern Railway commissioned Reiss to do paintings of the Blackfeet which were then distributed widely as lithographed reproductions on Great Northern calendars. In 1931, and 1934-37, Reiss organized a summer art school, also referred to as an artists' colony near Glacier National Park. This calendar topper features ledger art imagery on left and right borders. The Empire Builder was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northern Railway (1889-1970), originally operating a steam powered service that was re-equipped in 1947 to a streamliner service; it was relaunched in 1971 when it was taken over by Amtrak and now runs daily intercity services between Chicago and Seattle and Portland. This calendar topper is in very nice overall condition, original top metal bar attached, age tanning and very slight foxing. Edge scuffing noted to noted right border. No other obvious marring noted. Measures 16"W x 25"L approximately.