Newberry Library - Pahl-lee, Moqui

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Title Pahl-lee, Moqui

Creator Burbank, E. A. (Elbridge Ayer), 1858-1949

Date Created 1898

Subjects Indians of North America, Portraits, American

Description Portrait of Pahl-Lee, a Hopi Indian woman. Right profile from the waist up. Pictured wrapped in a brown, red and white cloth, with hair forming a whorl, and adorned with earring, necklace and bracelets. "PAHL-LEE. MOQUI." written in red paint on upper left corner. Signed "E.A. BURBANK. KEAMS CANYON. 1898. ARIZ." in gray paint in lower left corner. Framed oil painting on wood. Burbank, travelling through the American West for two decades, painted and drew individuals from more than 125 tribes.

Summary Collection of twenty-five oil paintings on canvas and panel executed by E. A. Burbank during the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Predominately composed of intimately-scaled portraits of American Indian men and women, this collection offers invaluable insight into the pictorial depiction of the American Indian during the turn of the twentieth century as well as the cultural cache attached to the depiction of native subjects.

Biographical/Historical Note American painter and illustrator. Elbridge Ayer Burbank was born in 1858 in Harvard, Illinois. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and in Germany, where he developed his technique in life drawing and portraiture. At first specializing in African American subjects, in 1897 Burbank was commissioned by his uncle Edward E. Ayer, to do a series of portraits of prominent Indian chiefs in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Accepting the commission, Burbank began his career as an Indian portrait authority. He painted Apache Chief Geronimo five times and was purported to be the only artist to paint the old warrior from life. This began his most productive and successful period as a painter of American Indians. By 1902, Burbank was roaming the west and southwest, seeking out the native peoples, painting and drawing. He depicted not only the great chiefs but also ordinary individuals, groups and ceremonies of more and 125 tribes. Burbank made friends wherever he traveled, among them was Juan Lorenzo Hubbell of the famed Hubbell Trading Post, a hub for artists, ethnologists and tourists. There he did red conté crayon drawings of Navajos and many of the patterns for their rugs. During the Depression, Burbank supported himself by drawing and selling scenes for postcards and greeting cards, pictures of famous Americans, and copies of his Indian studies. His reproductions were inexpensive, and were widely distributed and collected. His last years were spent at the Manx Hotel in San Francisco, where he died in 1949, after having been struck by a cable car.

Extent 8 x 6 inches (unframed), 8-5/8 x 6-5/8 inches (framed)

Format Oil paintings, Paintings, Portraits

Archival Collection Title E. A. Burbank Indian Portraits, Paintings, Edward E. Ayer Collection

Rights Status No Copyright - United States

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

Citation Please refer to the catalog record or finding aid for citations. Though it is not required when repurposing Newberry content, please use the credit "From the Newberry Library," and provide a link back to the item in our digital collections website. This helps us track how our collections are used, and provides justification for adding more digitized content in the future.

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Link to Catalog View record

Call Number VAULT oversize Ayer Art Burbank No. 60

BibID 955717

IIIF Resource Type Manifest

IIIF Resource ID https://collections.newberry.org/IIIF3/Presentation/Manifest/2KXJ8ZSMLLVVM

Original File Name 999557178805867_ayer_art_burbank_paintings_060

Unique identifier NL11XAVW

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