Hart Merriam Schultz

Last updated
Hart Merriam Schultz
Nitoh Mahkwii or Ni-tah-mah-kwi-i
James Willard Schultz and Lone Wolf, 1920.jpg
Hart Merriam Schultz, a.k.a. Lone Wolf, with his father, James Willard Schultz, ca. 1920
Born(1882-02-18)February 18, 1882
Blackfoot Reservation, Montana
DiedFebruary 9, 1970(1970-02-09) (aged 87)
Tucson, Arizona
NationalityAmerican
StyleIndian, western

Hart Merriam Schultz, also known by his Blackfoot name, Lone Wolf (Nitoh Mahkwii or Ni-tah-mah-kwi-i), was an Indian artist of the twentieth century. Most of his work was done in either Arizona or Montana, after he completed his artistic studies in Los Angeles and Chicago. He would spend his summers in a tipi studio in Montana, and his winters in Arizona, either in Tucson, or at the studio his father created for him at Butterfly Lodge, near Eagar.

Contents

Early life

Lone Wolf and his father in 1894 James Willard Schultz and Lone Wolf in 1894.jpg
Lone Wolf and his father in 1894

Lone Wolf was the only son of noted explorer, author, and guide, James Willard Schultz, and his Blackfoot wife, Natahki (meaning "Fine Shield Woman") near Birch Creek on the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana on February 18, 1882. [1] [2] [3] : 156  His mother was a survivor of the Baker massacre in 1870. [4] He was born while his father was away on a trading trip to Carroll, Montana, and while it was the prerogative of the father to name a child in the Blackfoot culture, his mother's uncle, Red Eagle, named him Nitoh Mahkwii in the father's absence. However, upon his return the elder Schultz renamed the child Hart Merriam, after his good friend, Clinton Hart Merriam.

Lone Wolf grew up preferring his Indian name, continuing to use it throughout his life. His early years were spent on his parents' ranch in Montana on the Two Medicine River. [3] : 157  With his father's frequent absences as a guide through Glacier National Park, it fell to Lone Wolf and his uncle, Last Rider, to run the family ranch. [5]

His maternal grandfather, Yellow Wolf, taught him the rudiments of how to use natural colors and how to draw animals and people. [4] And he sold his first work to a clerk who worked at Kipp's Trading Post in nearby Browning. [5] He disliked the schools he was sent to, first at nearby Fort Shaw, then at a Catholic school. When he and a classmate beat up a priest who was attempting to enforce corporal punishment on Lone Wolf, he was expelled, and returned home to the ranch, after which his parents decided to temporarily forgo a formal education. [3] : 157  While living on his parents' ranch he learned the skills necessary to work as a cowboy and ranch hand. With his mother's death in 1903 he left the ranch and traveled south, finally ending up near the Grand Canyon, where he worked as a cowboy, wrangler, and guide, as well as continuing to practice his art. [6] While at the Canyon, he met Thomas Moran, who encouraged the young man to pursue his art. [5] In 1909 he went to Los Angeles, where he began working in the fledgling film industry, appearing in the one-reelers of James Young Deer. Young Deer was the first American Indian filmmaker and producer in Hollywood, making films for Pathe Films. [7] While in Los Angeles, he was reunited with his father, who had remarried in 1907. He lived with his father and step-mother while in Los Angeles. [8] After his brief stint in film, due to the influence of Thomas Moran, he studied art at the Los Angeles Artist Student League. Following that, he continued his art studies in Chicago at the Chicago Art Institute in 1914–15. [6] [9] After leaving Chicago, he returned to Montana, where he worked on the Galbaith Ranch. While there, In 1916, he met the daughter of the ranch's foreman, Naoma Tracy (also known as Naomi). He courted her for a single day before taking her by horseback to Cut Bank, where they were married by a justice of the peace. The two remained married until his death in 1970. [6] [5]

Career

Lone Wolf was one of the first Indian artists to paint other Indians, and Indian subjects. He was also one of the first Indian artists to be academically trained in art. He was known for both his painting and sculpting skills. [2] He played a "significant role" in capturing the events of the American West during the latter part of the 1800s and the early part of the 1900s. He had personal experience, as well as his tribe's personal knowledge of people and events. [10] He was the first Indian to achieve national recognition as an artist, creating over 500 paintings. He was influenced and encouraged by Thomas Moran, who he met during his time wrangling at the Grand Canyon, and his style has been compared to that of Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell. [9] [11] Russell also encouraged and instructed Lone Wolf in his early career. [12] Lone Wolf had his first solo show in Los Angeles in 1917. The headline in the Los Angeles Times about the exhibition read, "Vance Thompson Discovers Wonderful Indian Artist, An Artist With a Vision." [5] In that article, Vance Thompson said of Lone Wolf, "The message he has to give is his own; and already he has shaped – if he has not perfected – a distinct, individual and interesting technique." [13] He went to say, "It is a rare thing to discover an artist. I have seen the young painters pass in droves through the schools and salons of Paris, and in 20 years I can claim to have been the discoverer of only one great artist. Now I like to think that I have, at last, discovered another and he is an artist who has authentic vision, sincerity and a brush which is already capable of doing precisely the thing he wants it to..." [5]

In 1918 his father authored Bird Woman, a novel about Sacajawea, and dedicated the book to Lone Wolf, who provided the illustrations for the novel. [14] Schultz said in his dedication:

"I dedicate this book to my son, Hart Merriam Schultz, or Ni-tah'-mah-kwi-i (Lone Wolf), as his mother's people name him. Born near the close of the buffalo days he was, and ever since with his baby hands he began to model statuettes of horses and buffalo and deer with clay from the river-banks, his one object in life has been to make a name for himself in the world of art. And now, at last, he has furnished the drawings for one of my books, this book. His own grandfather, Black Eagle, was a mighty warrior against the Snakes. What would the old man say, I wonder, if he were alive and could see his grandson so sympathetically picturing incidents in the life of Bird Woman, a daughter of the Snakes." [6] [9] [15]

He split his time between Arizona and Montana. His father had built a hunting lodge near Eagar, Arizona, named Butterfly Lodge (Apuni Oyis in the Blackfoot language), and he gave it to Lone Wolf and his wife in 1920. He added an artist's studio to the cabin during the 1920s. He would spend the winter, spring, and fall at Butterfly Lodge, while the summers he would spend in Montana, in a studio inside a tipi. Some time was also spent during the winters in Tucson, when Lone Wolf would occasionally participate in the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros festival by dressing in traditional Blackfoot regalia and riding horseback in the parade. [6] [16]

His career as an artist began by painting pictures for the Santa Fe Railroad, which he sold to them for $100 each. [11] Lone Wolf created a large five foot by eight foot portrait of the LDS pioneer Jacob Hamblin. He donated the painting to the local LDS community in Eagar, where it is still on display. [6] He would play up his Indian background, wearing full Blackfoot outfits to his gallery and museum openings. [11] He achieved national acclaim with his first one-man show in Los Angeles in 1917. During the 1920s he became a successful professional artist of paintings and sculptures based on his Blackfoot heritage and experiences. His visit to New York City during this period garnered the headline in the Evening Telegram : "A Real Indian Painter Paints Indian Life." [7] An article in Current Opinion stated that he was the only Indian painter in the United States, whose work had a "unique appeal" and said, "...his work portrays phases of life that until now have not found an interpreter." [13] The photojournalist, William van der Weyde said that Lone Wolf was "young, courageous and loves both his art and his race." [17] The success of his exhibition in New York in 1922 was considered a major breakthrough for Indian artists in America. [12] As time went on, he earned more and more for his paintings, eventually earning thousands of dollars for them. He would sell his art to European royalty; to presidents Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, and Calvin Coolidge; and to other notable people such as Buffalo Bill Cody and Charles Russell. [11] [7]

His art remains part of the permanent collections of several museums, including the Tucson Museum of Art. [10]

Later life and death

In 1956, he gave an interview which was captured on tape, wherein he discussed his growing up in Montana, and learning to paint at the hands of the elders of his mother's tribe. [18] He actively continued painting through the early 1960s. He is still considered one of the most important artists of Glacier National Park. His body of work helps to understand "the significant contributions by marginalized artists who successfully negotiated the terrain of the mainstream art world." [19] Lone Wolf died in St. Mary's hospital in Tucson, Arizona, on February 9, 1970. He was cremated, and his ashes were interred near the grave of his maternal uncle Last Rider in Montana. [6] He was buried on June 19, 1970, in an Indian ceremony which included four willow wands topped by eagle feathers placed at the corners of his grave. Paul Dyck, his adopted son, lowered the urn into the earth, and Lone Wolf's widow, Naomi, cast the first spade of earth into the grave. Afterwards, Naomi gave the eagle feathers to friends as remembrances. At some point during the next year, Naomi, despondent over Lone Wolf's death, committed suicide, using Lone Wolf's old revolver. [20] Two years after his death, his story was highlighted, along with pictures of his paintings and sculptures, in the first issue of the 1972 edition of Montana The Magazine of Western History . The article was written by Paul Dyck. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piegan Blackfeet</span> Native American tribe

The Piegan are an Algonquian-speaking people from the North American Great Plains. They are the largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that make up the Blackfoot Confederacy; the Siksika and Kainai are the others. The Piegan dominated much of the northern Great Plains during the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Marion Russell</span> American artist

Charles Marion Russell, also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. He is known as "the cowboy artist" and was also a storyteller and author. He became an advocate for Native Americans in the west, supporting the bid by landless Chippewa to have a reservation established for them in Montana. In 1916, Congress passed legislation to create the Rocky Boy Reservation.

A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack. As a trope, it refers to an individual who prefers to operate alone.

Robert Macfie Scriver (1914–1999) was a Montana sculptor who was born on the Blackfeet reservation of Anglophone Quebec parents. Scriver was a scholar of Blackfoot Indian culture and history who knew and associated with Blackfoot historian James Willard Schultz in the earlier part of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mix Stanley</span> 19th-century American artist

John Mix Stanley was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits as a young man. In 1842 he traveled to the American West to paint Native American life. In 1846 he exhibited a gallery of 85 of his paintings in Cincinnati and Louisville. During the Mexican–American War, he joined Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney's expedition to California and painted accounts of the campaign, as well as aspects of the Oregon Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Thundercloud</span> American actor (1899–1955)

Victor Daniels, known professionally as Chief Thundercloud, was an American character actor in Westerns. He is noted for being the first actor to play the role of Tonto, the Lone Ranger's Native-American companion, on the screen.

Peter Ford Young is an American painter. He is primarily known for his abstract paintings that have been widely exhibited in the United States and in Europe since the 1960s. His work is associated with Minimal Art, Post-minimalism, and Lyrical Abstraction. Young has participated in more than a hundred group exhibitions and he has had more than forty solo exhibitions in important contemporary art galleries throughout his career. He currently lives in Bisbee, Arizona.

Tom Savage is a contemporary American painter based in California whose work appears in museum collections and has been exhibited in major cities throughout the United States. His abstract paintings and drawings take a historical cue from post-war European automatism and surrealism, and the influence those movements had on abstract expressionism.

Jack Van Ryder was an American cowboy and western artist, his colorful life was a series of cinematic moments, the fodder that inspired his distinctively western art. He punched cows and drove freight wagons. He chased wild horses and rode bucking broncos all the way from the Powder River to the Gila, from Cheyenne to Carson City, from Butte to Bisbee. Ryder's soft pastels colored paintings captured the dusty brooding southwestern twilight skies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Louis Clarke</span> American artist (1881–1970)

John Louis Clarke was a Blackfoot artist and woodcarver from East Glacier, Montana who was deaf and mute, he was noted for his wildlife carvings related to Glacier National Park. His Blackfoot name was "Cutapuis".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Willard Schultz</span> American historian

James Willard Schultz, or Apikuni, was an American writer, explorer, Glacier National Park guide, fur trader and historian of the Blackfeet Indians. He operated a fur trading post at Carroll, Montana 47°34′25″N108°22′24″W and lived among the Pikuni tribe during the period 1880-82. He was given the name Apikuni by the Pikuni chief, Running Crane. Apikuni in Blackfeet means "Spotted Robe." Schultz is most noted for his 37 books, most about Blackfoot life, and for his contributions to the naming of prominent features in Glacier National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Glacier National Park</span>

The List of Glacier National Park (U.S.) references identifies English language historic, scientific, ecological, cultural, tourism, social, and advocacy books, journals and studies on the subject of Glacier National Park (U.S.) topics published since 1870 and documented in Glacier related bibliographies and other related references.

Monte A. Dolack is an American graphic artist who lives in Missoula, Montana. Frommer's called him "one of the best-known artists in Montana." He works primarily in watercolor, acrylic paint, poster art, and lithographs. Dolack's work often features whimsical animals in both a natural and artificial setting, and has a worldwide following. Dolack is considered a key figure in the visual arts of the American West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Coronato</span> American painter

Robert "Bob" Coronato is an American painter and printmaker. Coronato is best known for his paintings of present-day Western Americana, cowboys, and American Indian life and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ace Powell</span> American artist

Asa Lynn "Ace" Powell was an American 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 watercolor paintings and drawings, as well as a number of works in bronze, terracotta, and wood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabelle Johnson</span> American painter

Isabelle Jonette Johnson was an American painter noted as one of the first modernist painters in Montana. Her ranch has been converted into Tippet Rise, an outdoor sculpture park and art center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly Lodge</span> United States historic place

Butterfly Lodge is a five and half room log cabin, originally constructed as a hunting lodge in 1913 for the author, James Willard Schultz. Originally a rectangular building measuring 18 feet by 24 feet, it has been expanded over the years and now covers 40 feet, 10 inches by 32 feet, 6 inches, the shorter side being the front of the cabin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1992.

Jessica Louise Donaldson Schultz Graham (1887–1976) was an English professor at Montana State College and social worker on Native reservations in Montana and Wyoming.

Hugh Monroe (1798-1892) was a Canadian trapper, guide, and interpreter. He worked for Hudson's Bay Company, American Fur Company, and independently throughout his life. He traveled with Chief Lone Walker of the Piikani Nation and was given the name "Rising Wolf", an ancestor of Lone Walker, with Rising Wolf Mountain later named after him.

William Forrest Big Springs was a Blackfoot American rancher and painter born in East Glacier Park Village, Montana. Big Springs' work in oil and pastel has been exhibited across the country, including at the Bismarck National Indiana Art Show, the First Annual Invitational Exhibition of American Indian Paintings, and the Museum of the Plains Indian.

References

  1. ↑ "The Artist". Butterfly Lodge Museum. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Biography: Lone Wolf". Ask Art. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Glacier Association (2009). Stars Over Montana: A Centennial Celebration Of The Men Who Shaped Glacier National Park. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4617-4682-9.
  4. 1 2 "Indian Artist Selects Reservation". Great Falls Tribune. June 14, 1970. p. 54. Retrieved July 26, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Call of the Mountain: The Artists of Glacier National Park". Hockaday Museum. October 12, 2002. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Lodge". Butterfly Lodge Museum. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 "Lone Wolf (Hart M. Schultz): Cowboy, Actor & Artist Exhibition at Scottsdale's Museum of the West through August 31". Sonoran News. June 29, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Indians of North America". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Los Angeles, California: American Indian Culture and Research Center, University of California: 157. 1986. ISSN   0161-6463.
  9. 1 2 3 "Hart Merriam Schultz". Meadowlark Gallery. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Lone Wolf Premiere Retrospective to Open in Scottsdale". Arizona RedBook. June 8, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Alshire, Noah. "Greer's Butterfly Lodge Museum". Arizona Scenic Roads. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Holm, Tom (2009). The Great Confusion in Indian Affairs: Native Americans and Whites in the Progressive Era. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN   978-0-292-77957-0.
  13. 1 2 "Arizona Indian Painter Popular in New York City". The Coconino Sun. March 10, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved February 1, 2017– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "An Indian Heroine". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 27, 1918. p. 43. Retrieved February 1, 2017– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Schultz, James William (1918). Bird Woman (Sacajawea). New York: Houghton Mifflin. Bird Woman (Sacajawea).
  16. ↑ Kay LaRae Read (June 17, 1992). "NHL Nomination: Butterfly Lodge (including accompanying 1 photo)". National Park Service.
  17. ↑ Wheeler, Edward Jewitt; Crane, Frank (1922). "The Only Indian Painter in America". Current Opinion. 72: 104.
  18. ↑ "Oral history interview, 1956". WorldCat. OCLC   35627050.
  19. ↑ Loscher, Tricia (2016). Lone Wolf (Hart M. Schultz): Cowboy, Actor and Artist (PhD thesis). University of Arizona. hdl: 10150/621717 .
  20. ↑ Scriver, Mary Strachan (2007). Bronze Inside and Out: A Biographical Memoir of Bob Scriver. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press. p. 160. ISBN   978-1-55238-227-1.
  21. ↑ "Montana Historical Society Highlights Lone Wolf Art". The Independent-Record . January 16, 1972. p. 18. Retrieved July 26, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.