THE THUNDER-FIGHTERS WOULD TAKE THEIR BOWS AND ARROWS, THEIR GUNS, THEIR MAGIC DRUM BY FREDERIC REMINGTON
 |
Frederic Remington The Thunder-Fighters Would take Their Bows and Arrows, Their Guns, Their Magic Drum 1892 Oil on wood panel 30 inches x 18 inches |
| Remington regarded Indians as superstitious primitives who took all their cues from nature. Living in ignorance, they saw omens in the shape of a cloud, the roll of thunder, a flash of lightning. In this painting, illustrated in the 1892 edition of Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail, Remington shows Sioux “thunder fighters” braving a storm and their own fears to chase off the huge black thunder bird whose beating wings filled the air with roaring. The original painting, in color, showed the three figures shooting and beating the drum to frighten the cloud down to the earth. Remington eliminated the third warrior standing behind the other two discharging his musket into the sky, and the elimination of the third figure does simplify the composition. The revised painting was offered at auction in New York in 1893 as The Storm Medicine. |