Artist's Proofs & Personal EditionsBy Bruce BrownAvailable exclusively from the Astonisher.com Store...
Crazy Horse Artist's notes: Crazy Horse is the only great figure in American history who never allowed himself to be photographed or sketched. There are, however, historical descriptions of his war paint -- particularly the lightning bolt on one side of his face. These come from Sioux warriors, for few whites who got close enough to to see Crazy Horse's war paint lived to tell the tale -- certainly not Gen. George S. Custer. On June 25, 1876 when Custer and his men rode straight into the largest Plains Indian encampment in recorded history, Rain In The Face and Gall's response was direct and immediate. They and their warriors went straight at the Blue Coats like a swarm of angry hornets. It was Crazy Horse, though, who quickly realized where the battle was going to come to climax, and when he and his men rode over the crest of Last Stand Hill from behind -- before the remnants of Custer's command could fight their way to the high ground -- it was all over on the Little Big Horn. In this digital pastel, I've tried to conjure Crazy Horse -- his detached intelligence; his wild directness; his great heart and his tragic knowing. "Today is a good day to die."
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