Mike Larsen

(Chickasaw, b. 1945)

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Down from the Yellowstone AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Kiowa Sundance

acrylic on canvas

both signed Larsen (lower right)

each 39 1/4 x 29 1/2 inches

Property from a Private Collection

Please Note: This lot is located in and ships from our Cincinnati, Ohio office.

These paintings were studies for two works in the Oklahoma Arts Institute's Quartz Mountain Art Collection Walking Tour.

The Past Down from Yellowstone

"This painting depicts the Kiowa leaving the ancestral homeland near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River in western Montana. From here, the Kiowa migrated eastward to the Black Hills before finally settling on the Great Plains. Being attentive to historical detail, Larsen is careful not to include a horse, as the animal had not yet been introduced to the Kiowa at the time of their migration. Larsen's detailed rendering of the clothing adds vitality to the work and is also historical in depiction."

The Past Kiowa Sundance

"The most sacred of Kiowa ceremonies, the Sundance, is said to have taken place at Quartz Mountain. In this painting, the Sundance "pledge" or participant stands inside a cottonwood arbor painted with white clay and Kiowa symbols. Larsen also includes other symbolic attributes in this work, such as the sage at the head and wrists of the pledge and the eagle bone whistles worn by both the pledge and the elder next to him."

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Down from the Yellowstone AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Kiowa Sundance

[Two Works] Studies for Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Down from the Yellowstone AND Quartz Mountain: Sacred Ground - The Past Kiowa Sundance