Lakota (Teton Sioux); North or South Dakota; Sun Dance; ca. 1895; muslin; pigments; 24 x 66 in. (61 x 168 cm); Lakota paintings on muslin traditionally hung inside tipis or log cabins in order to shield living spaces from cold winds. This ambitious and exceptionally well-preserved work; however; was likely created for the non-Native market. A confirmed early owner was an Episcopal missionary on the Cheyenne River reservation who would have appreciated the detailed description of a religious ceremony that holds great significance for Native communities throughout the Great Plains. The Sun Dance is an annual rite of renewal; when humans place themselves in spiritual alignment with the forces of the natural and supernatural worlds. In 1883 the government banned the Sun Dance; implicitly acknowledging its crucial importance and instigating a conflict that further escalated with the growth of a new Native religion; the Ghost Dance. These tensions led to armed conflict in 1891; when the U.S. military decimated the Lakota at Wounded Knee.