INTERIOR OF THE J. L. HUBBELL TRADING POST

By E. A. Burbank 1858-1949

The original of this reproduction was painted by E. A. Burbank in 1908. For fifteen years Burbank lived among 125 different tribes of Indians of North America, painting their pictures and studying them at close range. This painting shows the interior of the trading post as it was in 1908. It is much the same today.

This is one of many Burbank paintings in the Hubbell collection. Between 1897 and 1911, which the pictures date, Burbank spent many months at a time at the Hubbell estate at Ganado.

PLACE
STAMP
HERE

POST CARD

Address

Supplee-Anderson Photo — Ganado, Ariz.

76795

Broadman

MAR.
1945

BOOK TALK

John L. Hill, Editor
Broadman Press
Nashville 3, Tennessee

I reckon among the blessings of my life the preservation
of a simple faith. Had I been endowed with greater in-
tellectual powers or had I been less fortunate in my early
training or if for action I had substituted a habit of specu-
lation, I might have been tossed hither and thither by the
winds of strange doctrine. In that event I should have lost
the faith of my childhood and gained nothing in exchange.
There is something tragic in the spectacle of a man of in-
tellect who has no fixed religious beliefs and rather wistfully
confesses his longing for them.... As time sweeps on and
comrades fall away and vital energy wanes those who whole-
heartedly accept the Christian philosophy of life, no matter
how imperfectly their beliefs are translated into action,
should be profoundly grateful for an unspeakable blessing...
As shadows lengthen and your cheek feels the evening damp
it is a great thing to be able to say with calm assurance:
"I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the
world to come."—George Wharton Pepper in *Philadelphia
Lawyer.*

*Any book mentioned herein may be had from the*
*BAPTIST BOOK STORE serving your state.*

MARKED COPY

# Burbank Among the Indians

By E. D. Burbank, as told to Ernest Royce. Caxton
Printers. 1944. $5.00.

This is the most interesting book that we have read in
years. The greatest living painter of the American Indian,
now in his eighties and active in his studio in San Francisco,
spent ten years visiting 128 Indian tribes, and painting
famous chieftains and warriors. He told his experiences to
Dr. Ernest Royce who compiled them in book form; the
material was edited for publication by Frank J. Taylor.
The volume, therefore, reflects the friendly and delightful
relationship between this talented friend of Indians and the
leaders of that great race, and is literally crowded with
human interest stories and delightful information. The
portraits include those of Geronimo, Rain-in-the-Face, Red
Cloud, Chief Joseph, and Sitting Bull. References of general
interest are to the Ramona country of Helen Hunt Jackson,
the Custer Battle, the purchase of what is now Chicago
("She-gong-ong") at three cents an acre which was not paid
in full until the time of President Cleveland, and Baptist
Missions. Observations of peculiar interest are: the author
found only one albino among the Indians, the Hopis are the
best cooks and the famous Snake Dance of the Hopis is a
nine-day ceremonial prayer for rain, the Crow war dance is
the most barbaric, ceremonies and paint and feathers have
their own significance, Chief Joseph was the finest Christian
gentleman that the author ever met, and the Indians as a
whole are grown-up children—kind and generous to children,
fond of pets, especially dogs, skilled basket makers and wood
carvers, and natural artists. On page 146 is the letter from
Blue Horse to the author, positively the finest expression of
friendship that we know; we wish there were space to quote
it. The mechanical excellence of the book is what we expect
from Caxton Printers.

106

TRUTH

E. A. BURBANK.

One may readily see that these portraits, now numbering some two hundred or more, are of very great ethnological value, and it is for this very value that the artist works. He appreciates that the costumes made by the Indian for certain uses of worship or drama are disappearing; the ceremoniesthemselves are rapidly passing away, while the Indian, the chief, the mighty hunter and

warrior, the medicine man, the dancer, are almost extinct. The old men of this generation are absolutely the last of their race. War has ceased, hunting is over, the dance is done. The hoe takes the place of the spear, and, with ready-made clothes, the Indian of to-day leaves his house or tepee in the morning, not to hunt the game of the plain but to do the work of the farmer, in the corn or wheat field.

His civilization is going, and with it all that makes the Indian unique among men. To perpetuate what is still to be found in purity of racial type, of personal interest, and fidelity to costume and ornament, is the important task Mr. Burbank has set for himself. He fully appreciates that it is now or never. His industry and enthusiasm increases as his work develops. He is keeping an accurate journal of his happenings, which it is hoped will some day

see the light, illustrated by a complete set of his portraits.

The artist's first trip was made to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was commissioned by Mr. E. E. Ayer, of Chicago, First President of the Field Columbian Museum, to paint the portrait of the famous villain, Chief Geronimo, of the Southern Apache band. Mr. Ayer's col-

AN APACHE BELLE.

A NAVAJO SQUAW.

lection representative of Indian life and history is one of the best in America. This portrait of Geronimo led to other studies, and this first trip whetted the artist's appetite for other tribes, such as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows and Nez Perces. The next year he went into the Southwest, visiting the different pueblo tribes, principally the Zunis and Moquis, their neighbors, the nomadic Navajos, and, farther south, the Apaches of Southern Arizona.

In 1899, Mr. Burbank visited the Sioux again, the Arapahoes, Osages, Blackfeet and other tribes of the Northwest. He is now painting in the interesting pueblo of Acoma, and will probably revisit the picturesque Moqui people perched on their lofty mesa in the midst of the Great American Desert. The writer spent some weeks there in 1895, in company with Hamlin Garland and MacNeil, the sculptor. Quang, whose pleasant picture accompanies this article, was the daughter of our hostess, and served to interpret for us, as she had been to school. Her conversation was limited to what she was forced to say, as a natural modesty restrained her. This we found to be characteristic. Many Indian girls could speak English, but pretended to know nothing. Quang has unmistakable Oriental drawing in her face, which gives countenance to the belief held by experts that these people have some connection with the Oriental races.

We witnessed, while there, the very remarkable Snake

108

TRUTH

SI-WE-KA.

Dance, which is part of an elaborate ceremony lasting many days. Ho-mo-vi, whose picture is also shown, is represented in his snake dancer's costume, which is practically wholly made by the tribe from its own raw materials. Mr. Burbank experienced great difficulty in painting these people in their sacred ceremonials, but finally overcame their prejudices and painted the high priest, Ko-pe-li, himself, as well as others. Some of his costumes of dancers in other ceremonies are most elaborate, interesting and peculiar.

The Moquis are a small, happy-dispositioned people; very domestic and contented with their lot. The Navajo tribe is markedly different, both in stature and character. The Navajos are the Arabs of the plain. They raise some corn for food but their wealth is in their native ponies and in their flocks of sheep and goats. They are the weavers, and their blankets are traded to other tribes for their specialties in baskets and pottery. Tli-ich-na-pa is a characteristic Navajo squaw, whose strength and severity of countenance is very unlike the smooth suavity of the Pueblo Indians. If we compare Si-we-ka with Tli-ich-na-pa, the racial type is easily seen. The necklace is of silver beads, and the crescent and pendant is Navajo work, but the ojo, or water-jar, is pure Pueblo manufacture and design. The dress is of black wool, finely woven, and the red belt is also of home manufacture.

It is not possible here to speak in detail of Mr. Burbank's work. His catalogue includes already most of the living chiefs of importance in the various tribes. The style of the portraits has been already suggested. They are uniform in size and simple as to pose and background. The color is good, the construction of the heads admirable,

while the likeness is truthful and accurate. The pictures vary in interest and quality of painting, as must naturally be the case, but the important people are successfully treated, and important portraits are the result.

They are intended to be literal and detailed, so we must not be disappointed at a certain lack of breadth and picturesqueness. They are painted for their scientific, for their ethnographical truth, and as such must meet with the approval of all who have any interest in the Indian or who care for accurate records. These portraits will furnish the standard of judgment for future generations as to what the Indian at the end of the nineteenth century looked like. Mr. Burbank appreciates the importance of the work he is doing, and his only desire is that the record he shall leave to posterity shall be one of literal accuracy.

Elbridge Ayer Burbank is a native of Illinois. His early studies were begun in the Old Academy of Design in Chicago, in 1874. In 1886 he went to Munich; and again in 1888. In 1892 he established his studio in Chicago and painted a number of minutely-finished pictures, making a specialty of negro subjects. The latter became very popular. This minute study of heads was the fitting school for the work which he took up later among the Indians.

Mr. Burbank is a constant exhibitor in the current American exhibitions, and is one of the few Western artists whose work will be shown in Paris this year. His color prints were the pioneers in the field which is now crowded with others following his example.

The artist is at present much interested in the tribes of Mexico and New Mexico.

HO-MO-VI IN SNAKE DANCER'S COSTUME.