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"Napi's World", By Ace Powell, 1972, Signed Lith.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:125.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 500.00 USD
 Napi's World , By Ace Powell, 1972, Signed Lith.
Available in this lot is a Signed Lithograph of, "Napi's World" by Ace Powell, 1972. Asa Lynn "Ace" Powell, (1912-1978), was a Montana painter, sculptor, and etcher of genre scenes and imagery relating to indians, cowboys, horses, and wildlife. His artwork was influenced by that of fellow Montana artist Charles M. Russell. Powell's lifetime body of work consists of between 12,000 and 15,000 artworks. Although he preferred working with oil paints, he also produced a large number of watercolour paintings and drawings, as well as a number of works in bronze, terracota and wood. He is best remembered as one of finest painters of American western art in the 20th century. Napi, known as Old Man, is the culture hero of the Blackfoot tribe. Napi is often portrayed as a trickster, a troublemaker, and a foolish being. But he is a well-intentioned demigod responsible for shaping the world the Blackfoot Indians live in. He would often teach the Blackfoot people important things. Napi is often helped by his wife, Old Woman (Kipitaki or Kipitaakii in Blackfoot). In many Blackfoot Indian legends both Old Man and Old Woman are involved with coyotes. Some Blackfoot Legends refer to them as Old Man Coyote and Old Lady Coyote. In other Blackfoot Legends Napi and Kipitaki have nothing to do with coyotes and are explained as the first man and woman made by the Creator, similar to Adam and Eve. There are several creation stories found within Blackfoot culture; one of those is the creation Story involving Napi. Napi is a regular figure in many Blackfoot stories and is considered an important figure in Blackfoot mythology itself. Napi is said to have created the earth using the mud collected by Turtle during a flood.[1][2] He not only created the earth using the mud, but he also created the men and women as well animals and plants. Napi taught the Blackfoot people what plants to eat and animals to hunt, including their main food source, the buffalo. This lithograph of Powell's shows Napi kneeling on a painted buffalo hide releasing animals from a quiver he is holding, animals found throughout the wilderness of the Blackfoot Indian Reservation including, moose, bison, elk and grizzly bear. A war club, spear and war shield are lying on the ground alongside him. The landscapes are juxtaposed in overlapping scenes. What appears to be a simple meandering stream with a buffalo and beaver dam on the left of the portrait, becomes a large lake with an island on the right and then reverts to a stream behind the island, a full-size pronghorn standing at the edge. This print is professionally framed in a rustic hardwood frame, no marring noted. Visible art measures 19"W x 24.75"L, frame is 23.75"W x 29.25"L