Shield

He Nupa Wanica/ Joseph No Two Horns

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After buffalo were hunted to near extinction in the late nineteenth century as part of the United States’ expansion tactics, Great Plains men transitioned from celebrating their feats of bravery with pictorial compositions on buffalo skins to using commercially available fabric and paper. The courageous warrior No Two Horns notably fought in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. Here, he portrays a bird with lightning or power emanating from its wings to protect the warrior. He also painted these powerful lines on his face and his horse’s body in self-portraits. Though he made later versions of this shield on muslin, this hide is a rare original.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art