The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

Commentary on "Bad Bear, Sioux Indian"

Gertrude Käsebier worked diligently with her subjects to try to create a relationship, to try and build on certain elements that were very important to her: her independent spirit, her strong personality, the solitude of the moment of the photographs. I'm not sure that she was able to achieve it with all of the men. A front-on formal portrait, or even an informal portrait, in the way that she felt was reflective of the person, or the character sitting in front of her, what would she do? Well, there's one image of Bad Bear where she's photographing him from behind, so you see his back, the beautiful beaded vest that he's wearing, the feathers in his hair, the cuff he's wearing on his arm, and you see just a bit of his profile. Was this an instance where she couldn't get up front and close what she was looking for, for his portrait? We don't know for sure, just that she achieved a beautiful portrait of him without forcing the moment.