RICHARD WEST
Untitled (War Ritual Offering)
Circa 1965
Dimensions: 21” x 17” (Art) | 28” x 24” (Frame)
Medium: Water-based pigment on paper
Provenance:
– Private Collection, Phoenix, AZ
– Trotta-Bono Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
West’s War Ritual Offering recreates an idealized formal Indian ceremony, simultaneously telling a story and creating a sociological record with its wealth of detail. The image depicts three warriors after a battle. One horse coming, another going… There are four scalps in the foreground along with a painted buffalo skull inlaid with peyote buttons. There is a bow with arrows resting in front of the altar. A seated man wearing a wolf hide and headdress, eagle feather lance and war bonnet, a catlinite pipe and stem. The scene is full of rich information.