Sitting Bull portrait sells at auction to private bidder

BY SANDRA HALE SCHULMAN ICT

e rare portrait of Lakota leader Sitting Bull that was up for sale at Blackwell Auctions sold for $67,100 in mid-March to a private purchaser from the northeastern United States.

e portrait was one of four paintings of Sitting Bull created by New York artist and activist Caroline Weldon, and is thought to be the only one still in private hands.

Stored for decades and needing repair, the solemn portrait of the charismatic Lakota leader was consigned to auction by heirs of the original owner from 1890. e artist’s friendship with Sitting Bull was made into a 2017 lm, “Woman Walks Ahead.”

“I just tried to promote it as best I could,” Blackwell auctioneer Edwin Bailey told ICT. “I knew that it was a very special piece, and the story was absolutely fascinating. e deeper I got into it, I watched the movie and contacted the historical researchers.”

Bailey says the painting was special because it is “vastly superior to the other two Weldon painted. e value of the painting was based on its subject matter and its dramatic history, not the popularity of the artist or broad demand for the artist’s work, which is usually what drives the value of a piece of art.”

Daniel Guggisberg, historian and researcher, told ICT that the portrait was not done from a sitting, one of several revisions to the story that was portrayed in the 2017 lm featuring Jessica Chastain as Weldon and Michael Greyeyes as Sitting Bull.

“It is based on a portrait made by photographers Palmquist & Jurgens of Minneapolis in March 1884,” Guggisberg said.. “ e other two known paintings of Sitting Bull she made are based on photographs, notably by William Notman & Son of Montreal, taken in August 1885 while Sitting Bull toured with Bu alo Bill’s Wild West. She did not paint from lifewould not have the means to do so and Sitting Bull certainly would not have agreed to sit for a painted portrait for hours or days on end. Caroline Weldon certainly had artistic talent, but not beyond an amateur’s level.”

Weldon went to see Sitting Bull (1831-1890) in the