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Bismarck State College presents an exhibit of David Humphreys Miller's portraits of eight chiefs who survived the Little Big Horn Battle

Presented by Bismarck State College at Bismarck State College's Sidney J. Lee Auditorium

January 18-January 29, 2010

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David Humphreys Miller's portraits of eight chiefs who survived the Little Big Horn Battle will be on display in the Elsa Forde Gallery in Schafer Hall at Bismarck State College January 18-29. The exhibit is in conjunction with the January 24 Conversations at BSC - Wounded Knee event (www.bsctalkcom).

The portraits are on loan from the Medora Foundation. Miller's portraits have been shown at many museums and galleries including the Whitney Western Museum, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, and the High Plains Heritage Center in Spearfish, SD. He also was commissioned to paint murals at Mount Rushmore, the Citadel and Busch Gardens in Los Angeles. He helped design the Northern Plains Indian Museum and Fur Trade and Wildlife Museum at Medora, North Dakota. At the age of 16, he began searching for Indians who had fought at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Miller began to paint these individuals and eventually painted portraits of 72 survivors of the battle. Miller typically painted the portraits on flat, white acrylic backgrounds, often eliminating the shoulders and necks, unless the Indian wore a distinctive necklace or other special ornamentation. Although he started painting with pastels and tempera, he soon switched to oils which became his preferred medium.

In 1957 Miller wrote Custer's Fall, a book built around his interviews, which was selected as a Book of the Month Club selection. He also wrote Ghost Dance in 1959 and co-authored and illustrated several other books. An extensive article by Miller appeared in American Heritage Magazine in 1971, focusing on the recollections of the Indians who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.