A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 4. (Szeged, 2004)
Nagy Imre: A Preliminary Report on the Friedman Kein Canvas
Thigh in English, and Tatankaluta (Red Buffalo Bull) in Lakota, who was 56 years old then, which gives his year of birth as 1833 (Sandoz n.d.). A photograph of this Northern Cheyenne (So'taa'e) was prepared by Michelson in 1910, and published by Moore (1987: 114; Plate 7). About a year ago, a previously unknown photograph was auctioned by the Cincinnati firm of Cowan's, showing the same man (Fig. 7). This photograph was taken by the painter, Joe Scheuerle in 1910. The present location of the print is unknown. The Northern Cheyenne probate hearings inform us about some of the relatives of John Bull Thigh. His natural father was called Man Stands on Hill, his mother Wo-nah-ess. Later he had a step-father, Smoky, and many thought he was his real father. According to John Sunbear, John Bull Thigh had two children, Singing Bear Woman and Yellow Calf, a boy - both died in childhood. The name of their mother was Cow Woman. According to Julia VanHorn, a Southern Cheyenne woman, her father Moore VanHorn (ca. 1864-1898) was the only son of John Bull Thigh by his Southern Cheyenne wife, Old Woman (One Eye) (ca. 1840-?). John Bull Thigh died on the Tongue River Reservation, Montana, in the year of 1923 (Sandoz n.d.). His photograph has been confused with the Southern Cheyenne (So'taa'e) informant of James Mooney; however, by consulting their genealogies we can distinguish them clearly. Although John Bull Thigh and Little Buffalo Thigh both were of So 'taa 'e descent, they came from different families. Further, Little Buffalo Thigh was a member in the Hémo'eoxeso, or (Crooked) Lance Society, while John Bull Thigh was member of the Má'hooheváse, or Red Shield Society (NAA Photo 45,799). Little Buffalo Thigh - who informed Mooney about the shield he once owned - was born in 1842, from a So'taa'e man, called False Lame, and an unnamed Mah-sïh'kota woman 5 . He had a full brother, Black Hawk (1843-1921), and a half-brother (probably from the same father but from a different mother), Little Shield (?-l 885). According to the 1891 Southern Cheyenne census, Little Buffalo Thigh had a wife, called Plover (1843-?), and an eight-year-old daughter, called Crazy. The other intriguing thread is what Little Buffalo Thigh declared about the origin of the shield he owned. He stated that this shield originated among the Arapaho Indians, as his grandfather Old Man Tipi roamed with them. Among the known Arapaho shield designs no corresponding type can be found. However, among known Cheyenne shield designs there are several compositions with vertical bisection, where one half of the field is striped horizontally (Plate 1). In addition, there are several designs of Cheyenne painted tipis where one half (usually the southern half) of the tipi cover is painted with black, or red horizontal stripes. Although several of this tipi designs originated among the Sioux - according to the informants of James Mooney - there are no examples of this design among the surviving Sioux painted tipi designs. More probably, the design might be derived from the so-called „coup stripes" painted on shirts and leggings, which when later transferred to beadwork, comprised the basis of the characteristic Cheyenne beadwork of „stripe-style". This might be supported by the visual evidence of the so-called „Little Chief's Sun Dance scene" (Penney 1998: 108-109), where the tipi of Minimic (or Eagle Head), and White Horse are depicted with the marked horizontal black stripes - indicating their important military positions. In 5 According to the 1881 census of the Cheyenne tribe, Old Sioux Woman was the name of Little Buffalo Thigh's mother, who was 79 years old, and blind at that time. 112
