Blackfeet Warrior and the White Wolf — Print & Oil Painting

Two heads sit at exactly the same height on opposite sides of the canvas, and the gap between them is the subject. Nothing crosses it: no hand, no object, no branch, just a strip of lit grass and low sky. The picture is entirely about a distance being held rather than closed.

Behind that gap the sun is doing all the work. Cream and gold are laid in soft vertical strokes from the horizon up into pink and lilac, a low blue ridge sits across the middle distance, and a stand of dark conifers closes the far left. The light is strong enough to eat the outline of both figures where they meet it.

He is crouched on his heels with his forearms on his knees and his hands hanging loose, long black hair falling forward past the jaw. The shirt is fringed hide with a pale fur drop at the shoulder, a round shell disc hangs at the chest, and strands of red and blue beads fall in front of it. His face is lowered a few degrees, level with the animal.

The wolf sits square on the grass at the right, front legs straight, tail curled forward against the ground, ears up and eye pale. It has been painted as a portrait of an animal rather than as a symbol: the coat is grey over the back and shoulders and cream down the chest and legs, and the muzzle is drawn with real care.

The title calls the animal white; on the canvas it is a grey wolf with white underparts, and the painting is the better for it. From our Amerindian collection, next to the seated meeting under a gold sky.