Adolph Alexander Weinman (1870-1952) Chief Black Bird, Ogalalla Sioux inscribed 'CHIEF / BLACK / BIRD... / OGALALLA / SIOUX. / A·A·WEINMAN. SC' (on the shoulder) and stamped 'ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-' (along the base) bronze with dark brown patina 18in high Modeled in 1903. Footnotes: Provenance Private collection. Literature P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1973, pp. 197-199, another example illustrated. L.S. Ferber, P.H. Hassrick, After the Hunt: The Art Collection of William B. Ruger, New York, 2002, pp. 50-51, 195, no. 205, another example illustrated. T. Tolles, T.B. Smith, The American West in Bronze, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2013, pp. 45-46, 166, nos. 78-79, fig. 55, other examples illustrated. Arguably Adolph Weinman's best known portrait, Chief Black Bird is a powerful portrait bust dominated by the sitter's elaborate and detailed headdress. Broder writes about the work, 'The portrait of Blackbird...is totally formal and stylized. The details follow intricate linear patterns which give the work a rhythmic quality.' 1 The artist met Chief Blackbird, an esteemed veteran of the Great Sioux War of 1876, while Blackbird was performing in Colonel Frederick T. Cummins' Wild West show 'Indian Congress and Life on the Plains' in New York in 1903. Weinman also used the Chief's portrait in the monumental sculpture figural group Destiny of the Red Man that was exhibited at St. Louis' Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. 1 P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1973, pp. 197-198.