Agnes Martin: Richard Tuttle

by Michael Auping

This book recounts the reservation period of the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes in western Oklahoma and the following fifteen years. It is an investigation-and an indictment-of the assimilation and reservation policies thrust upon them in the latter half of the nineteenth century, policies that succeeded only in doing enormous damage to sturdy, vital people.Confined to a reservation in the Indian Territory in 1875, the Southern Cheyennes and their neighbors, the Arapahoes, traditionally hunting and mobile societies, were forced into the federal government's image of "educated, Christian farmer-citizens." Lacking the support of adequate appropriations or protective legislation, the Cheyennes' lives were dominated by hunger, disease, and despair. Continuing niggardliness on the part of Congress in providing adequate agricultural equipment and instruction and an environment hostile to cultivation made agricultural self-sufficiency all but impossible.The continued reduct

Genres: Art

75 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Michael Auping is chief curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.