Russell Means

Object Details

Artist

Bob Coronato

Sitter

Russell Means, 10 Nov 1939 - 22 Oct 2012

Exhibition Label

Born Porcupine, South Dakota

Born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Russell Means was Oglala Lakota Sioux. In 1968, he joined the American Indian Movement (AIM), a militant activist organization. When AIM occupied Wounded Knee, site of the infamous nineteenth-Century massacre of the Sioux, in 1973, Means was the organization’s spokesperson. The siege grew into a seventy-one day confrontation between armed AIM members and the federal authorities. Means left the group in 1988. Artist Bob Coronato wanted to honor Means, who agreed to sit for him as long as the portrait conveyed that “Indians are not the idea of old Hollywood westerns or to be thought of as ‘in the past’ but a people very much of today, and with a rich history.” The artist and Means decided to include the upside-down flag, a sign used by the Navy as a symbol of distress and that AIM often displayed during protests.

Nacido en Porcupine, Dakota del Sur

Nacido en la Reserva Pine Ridge de Dakota del Sur, Russell Means perteneció a la tribu Sioux Oglala Lakota. En 1968, se unió al Movimiento Indígena Estadounidense (AIM, por sus siglas en inglés), una organización activista militante. Cuando en 1973 la AIM ocupó Wounded Knee, lugar de la infame masacre de los sioux del siglo XIX, Means era el portavoz de la organización. El sitio escaló a una confrontación de setenta y un días entre miembros armados de la AIM y autoridades federales. Means abandonó el grupo en 1988. El artista Bob Coronato quería rendir homenaje a Means, quien accedió a posar para él siempre y cuando el retrato transmitiera que “los indígenas no se parecen a los de los westerns de Hollywood ni deben ser considerados gente ‘atrasada’, sino más bien gente muy actual y con una rica historia”. El artista y Means decidieron incluir la bandera al revés, un signo utilizado por la marina como símbolo de peligro y que la AIM solía usar en sus protestas.

Provenance

The artist; sold 2017 to NPG

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

2012

Object number

NPG.2017.81

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© 2009 Bob Coronato

Type

Painting

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Stretcher: 188 × 93 × 3.2 cm (74 × 36 5/8 × 1 1/4")

Frame: 192.1 × 96.8 × 5.7 cm (75 5/8 × 38 1/8 × 2 1/4")

Place

United States\Wyoming\Crook\Hulett

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Exhibition

20th Century Americans: 2000 to Present

On View

NPG, South Gallery 341

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Costume\Jewelry

Symbols & Motifs\Flag

Russell Means: Visual Arts\Artist

Russell Means: Male

Russell Means: Literature\Writer

Russell Means: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor

Russell Means: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.2017.81

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4e815b3f2-7e49-45a7-bebf-3a8ec6606096