LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 May Signature Fine Art Auction - Dallas, TX...  / 

24028

HENRY H. CROSS - Wa-Shee Choon - White Man

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:8,500.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
HENRY H. CROSS - Wa-Shee Choon - White Man
<B>HENRY H. CROSS</B></I> (American 1837-1918)<BR><I>Wa-Shee Choon (White Man),</B></I> 1882<BR>Oil on canvas<BR>36 x 29 inches (94.1 x 73.7 cm)<BR>Signed and inscribed upper left:<I> No. 30 "Wa-She-Choon."/White man./H.H. Cross, 1862</B></I><BR>Inscribed on reverse: <I>White Man</B></I> .<BR><BR> <I>Wa-Shee-Choon, White Man</B></I> is one of the group of 38 oil portraits that Cross painted of Indians who were hung at Mankato, Minnesota in late December 1862 for their participation in the massacres of white settlers. Some of this group was racially mixed. Originally 265 of them were convicted and sentenced to death, but President Abraham Lincoln pardoned all of them but the 38 for whom the evidence seemed strongest. The mass execution was performed for all to see from a single scaffold platform. It remains the largest execution in the history of the United States. Cross visited the convicted men in their prison in the weeks prior to their execution, and made miniature colored sketches of each of them which he utililized in executing his finished portraits (“In Memorum-H. H. Cross,” <I>The Horse Review</B></I> 56 April 10, 1918 : 328). As here, many of his portraits of Indians picture them with a stern and serious expression on their face, standing before a stormy and turbulent sky. Great care is given to recording the figure's elaborate clothing and jewelry. <BR><BR> Upon leaving Minnesota in late 1863 or early 1864, Cross went to New York, where he was commissioned to paint thoroughbreds owned by Robert Bonner and Cornelius Vanderbilt. In New York he became acquainted with P. T. Barnum, and he later traveled with Barnum's circus as a wagon and sign painter. He also secured many rare animals for the circus, including the famous elephant Jumbo. In the ensuing years Cross made trips alone into Indian country, portraying Indian and animal life, as well as scouts and cavalry men. In the late 1880s Cross settled in Valparaiso, Indiana . In 1900 he moved with his family to Chicago, where he continued to paint portraits of Indians as well as other individuals. Among his notable later sitters were King Kalakana of Hawaii, King Edward VII and President Ulyses S. Grant. The artist's final commission, financed by the millionaire art collector T.B. Walker or Minneapolis, began in 1908 and continued until Cross's death in April of 1918. For this commission Cross produced more than one hundred paintings of Indians. These paintings now form part of the large collection of Cross' work in the collection of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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