Elbridge Ayer Burbank
Elbridge Burbank was a tireless and prolific painter of the North American Indian, who began work in the period after the close of the frontier in the 1890′s and continued well into this century. The Indians Burbank painted nicknamed the artist “Many Brushes,” and it is estimated that he worked among as many as 125 tribes, exhibiting more than 1,200 works in his lifetime.
Burbank was born and raised in Illinois, and one of his first jobs was to travel along the territory of the Northern Pacific Railroad across the Rockies to the West Coast to paint scenes for a homesteader’s magazine. In 1886, Burbank traveled to Munich to study, where he remained nearly six years and met fellow students Joseph Sharp and William Leigh.
Returning to Chicago, Burbank was commissioned to do a series of portraits of American Indians. He needed little further encouragement, and he soon discovered his life’s calling. He began work at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where his first portrait recorded the aging, yet proud features of the great chief, Geronimo. In all, Burbank painted seven portraits at various times of the old warrior, and Geronimo is claimed to have stated that he liked the artist more than any other white man he ever met.
After a time spent painting the Apaches, Burbank journeyed to Gallup, New Mexico in search of the Navajo. “The Navajo raise some corn for food, but their wealth is principally in their flocks of sheep, goats, and ponies,” Burbank stated. “They are among the wealthiest Indian tribes in the country. Among the Navajos there is a curious division of property,” Burbank wrote in his autobiography. “The hogan, the sheep, and the goats belong to the women. The horse saddles and jewelry belong to the men. The Navajo family ties are close. They are particularly devoted to their children, who learn to ride ponies before they can walk, so that they can follow the flocks along with their elders. The children help their parents in herding sheep, and sometimes they do all the work themselves. They are good herders.”
Reference note courtesy of Charlton Hall Auctions.