In Red Cloud: Photographs of a Lakota Chief, Red Cloud (1821–1909), the famous Lakota leader, comes to life through a series of extraordinary photographs that trace his career in stunning detail. Arguably the most photographed Native American of the nineteenth century, Red Cloud posed before the camera some fifty times and appears in over one hundred photographs, rivaling the number taken of Abraham Lincoln. This is the first time that the majority of these photographs have been gathered together. These images reveal much about Red Cloud—from the height of his position as a tribal leader in the 1870s through his years as an effective and controversial statesman to his old age and death in the early twentieth century.
Frank H. Goodyear III provides historical, biographical, and critical commentary that both illuminates the images and interrogates the motivations and attitudes of Red Cloud and his photographers. What does the succession of photographs reveal about the changing circumstances of Red Cloud’s life and those who photographed him? Why were photographers and the American public fascinated with the Lakota leader? Why did he choose to face the camera so many times? Goodyear provides a fully drawn portrait of the renowned Lakota leader and his relationships with outsiders, particularly those who continually attempted to capture his likeness with a camera.
"Red Cloud is one book that no photography aficianado should be without."—Meghan Saar, True West
"The sheer number of well-presented images here challenges the stereotype of Indian reluctance to be captured on film. . . . Goodyear writes well, clearly documents his sources, and includes a good bibliography and notes section. The book's prize feature is, however, its cumulative portrait of a remarkable man and his world."—Library Journal
"Some of the most famous American photographers of that era [the nineteenth century] worked with Red Cloud, including Mathew Brady, Edward Curtis, Alexander Gardner, and Charles Bell. Goodyear, the assistant curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, informs us in his concise and informative introduction that Red Cloud's decision to face the camera as often as he did was motivated by his interest in serving as a mediator between the Oglala Indians and the federal government, using these occasions to speak to both the dominant culture and his own people. These portraits can be read as semi-autobiographical texts that reveal the hopes and anxieties Red Cloud confronted during this transitional moment in Lakota history. Goodyear's text offers readers a biographical and historical analysis of Red Cloud and his world."—Booklist
“Goodyear, a ‘rising star’ photo historian, has gathered together the most comprehensive grouping of portraits of Red Cloud to date and presents them with an insightful perspective on this important nineteenth-century Native American and the world in which he lived.”—Paula Richardson Fleming, author of Native American Photography at the Smithsonian: The Shindler Catalogue
“In carefully nuanced readings of nearly a hundred portrait photographs of Red Cloud, Goodyear recovers not only the hidden assumptions white photographers tried to impose, but the complex (if sometimes equally hidden) forms of resistance that constituted the native leader’s own heroic efforts at self-preservation.”—Lee Clark Mitchell, professor of English, Princeton University
"The research (or better yet, sleuthing) required to gather these many images was truly daunting, and for that achievement alone this book is worth acquiring."—Eli Paul, Nebraska History
"Goodyear does an outstanding job of displaying these intriguing photos in such a way as to tell Red Cloud's story and to document the many roles he played--warrior, diplomat, critic of federal Indian policy, father, and respected elder, to name a few. The author has managed to capture the complexity of this man and his ability to adapt as times and circumstances dictated. . . . Also, Goodyear provides a succinct, smoothly written history of the Lakota people."—Kathleen P. Chamberlain, Montana, The Magazine of Western History