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Primary sourcePaintingca. 1880

Swift Dog Strikes an Enemy

Swift Dog · ca. 1880

A ledger drawing by Hunkpapa artist Swift Dog showing two mounted warriors in battle, part of the art of Sitting Bull's community.

Created by a Hunkpapa Lakota artist from Sitting Bull's own community, showing their warrior traditions.

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Ledger drawing on paper showing two mounted warriors in colored pigment galloping across a pale background. The left rider, in blue and pink, aims toward the right; the right rider wears a feathered headdress and carries a lance. Horses are outlined in black with hooves marked, and a row of small curved marks runs down the left edge.
Swift Dog, Swift Dog Strikes an Enemy, ca. 1880. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a watercolor and ink ledger drawing made around 1880 by Swift Dog, a Hunkpapa Lakota (Teton Sioux) artist. It shows two mounted warriors galloping across the page, one aiming a weapon and the other carrying a lance. It is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Diker Collection of Native American Art.

Why it matters

Swift Dog was part of the same Hunkpapa Lakota community as Sitting Bull. This drawing is an example of ledger art, a tradition where Plains artists recorded battles and personal deeds using paper and pigment. It shows the visual culture and warrior values of Sitting Bull's people in this period.

Look closer

  • How does the artist use color and line to show motion?
  • What might this drawing have meant to the person who made it or who first saw it?
  • What is missing from the image that a fuller account of the event might include?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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