Sitting Bull's Robe at MacKenzie Art Gallery

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Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull), Buffalo Robe, circa 1877-1881

pigment on American bison hide. (courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, 10117)

Sitting Bull's buffalo robe is returning to Saskatchewan for the first time in at least 75 years.

The robe, made by the famed Hunkpapa Lakota chief who led resistance to American government policies in the 19th century, is on display as part of a new year-long show, The Permanent Collection: Walking with Saskatchewan, at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina. 

The robe is on loan from the North Dakota State Historical Society, which has held it since 1945.

It's the highlight of the first show in a new series of exhibitions that explore the permanent collections of both the MacKenzie and the University of Regina.

The robe was painted between 1877 and 1881, when Sitting Bull sought asylum in the territory now known as Saskatchewan. It features a presumed self-portrait of Sitting Bull wearing his strong heart bonnet below a feathered sun that is flanked by two pipes. It's believed to be the last remaining robe painted by Sitting Bull. Another was gifted to the Vatican but reportedly has been lost.

Source: MacKenzie Art Gallery