Heroic Horseman
Black Knife, an Apache Warrior was painted by John Mix Stanley in 1846.At the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1845, Stanley joined Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney's expedition to California and produced many sketches and paintings of the campaign. Here he has depicted the celebrated Apache chief, Black Knife, reconnoitering the troops on the march from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, California. The landscape portrays the Rio Gila, which runs through Arizona and New Mexico. Stanley has also made a great effort to include in the foreground accurate details of a variety of native Southwestern plants, adding a sense of authenticity to his painting's narrative.
This artwork is included in our traveling exhibition Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum,on view at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, through December 16, 2001.
Source: Merry Foresta. Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).
Pictured: John Mix Stanley, 1814–1872, Black Knife, an Apache Warrior, 1846, oil, 42 3/8 x 52 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Misses Henry.
Black Knife, an Apache Warrior was painted by John Mix Stanley in 1846.At the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1845, Stanley joined Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney's expedition to California and produced many sketches and paintings of the campaign. Here he has depicted the celebrated Apache chief, Black Knife, reconnoitering the troops on the march from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, California. The landscape portrays the Rio Gila, which runs through Arizona and New Mexico. Stanley has also made a great effort to include in the foreground accurate details of a variety of native Southwestern plants, adding a sense of authenticity to his painting's narrative.