War Paintings of the Tsuu T'ina Nation

During much of the nineteenth century, paintings functioned as the Plains Indians closest equivalent to written records. The majority of their paintings documented warfare, focusing on specific war deeds. These pictorial narratives continue to expand historical knowledge of a people and place in transition. Arni Brownstone studies several important war paintings and artifact collections of the Tsuu Tina (Sarcee) that provide insight into the changing relations between the Tsuu Tina, other plains tribes, and non-Native communities during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All known Tsuu Tina paintings are considered in the study, as are several important collections of Tsuu Tina artifacts. Brownstones work furthers our understanding of Tsuu Tina pictographic war paintings in relation to the social, historical, and artistic forces that influenced them and provides a broader understanding of pictographic painting, one of the richest and most important Native American artistic and literary genres.