Portrait of "Clear," a Sioux Indian

F. A. RINEHART

Portrait of "Clear," a Sioux Indian

1900

More than five hundred American Indians from thirty-five tribes attended the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. American ethnographer James Mooney (1868-1921) of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology hired Omaha native Rinehart to photograph the tribal delegates. The sheer number of Rinehart's exposition portraits ensures that they represent the most comprehensive collection of images of early-twentieth-century Indian leaders. Although Rinehart made the portrait displayed here several years after the exposition, the photograph is nevertheless representative of his work: rich images of beautifully dressed, dramatically posed subjects who evoke nostalgia for a disappearing culture.

Platinum print

Princeton Collections of Western Americana, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Gift of William G. Mackenzie, Class of 1935.