Possible photo-negative of Sitting Bull . Courtesy New York Public Library. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b7868fe1-bb21-7a25-e040-e00a1806666b
A historian sent me the positive of the photo/painting that he manipulated using software creating the result below. The negative is most likely a photograph of a painting.
Courtesy Daniel Guggisberg
For many years, Sitting Bull College Library has been engaged in gathering the known photographs and images of Sitting Bull. The library has a webpage devoted to the history of the photographs as well a full collection of the known prints that can be viewed on the walls of the various campus buildings. Most of our photographs were accessed from archives across North America, while a few come from as far away as Europe.
The collection would have been impossible without the work of several people who published articles and created documents detailing the scope of the photographs and where they could be found. More information can be found on the webpage above.
New photographs occasionally emerge and it is certain more will be found as time goes on. The photo above emerged as the New York Public Library digitized their collections and was sent to me by Sitting Bull photo enthusiast Gregor Lutz. Lutz is the author of a series of online guides to the photos and images of Sitting Bull that continue to be useful in finding and identifying images. Links can be found on the webpage linked in the first paragraph. What he sent is a negative print and thus hard to make out. According to the library record, the back bears the enigmatic caption: "Typewritten and handwritten on sheet affixed to verso: "Sitting Bull. Copy taken from History Room. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Indians taxed and Indians not taxed...Published 1894. Artist Gilbert Gaul, Born Jersey City, died in 1919..."Statement of responsibility: [signed] G. Gaul."
Both photograph and caption raise more questions than answers. The photo also bears the date September, 1890. Where the date comes from requires more investigation. If true, and if this is indeed Sitting Bull, it would be the last known photograph taken of him before the unfortunate series of events that led to his death in December of that year. It would be great to find a positive print that would answer some of the questions. Possibly, there is some computer software that could be used to reverse this image to bring out the original.
After making this blog post, a historian that I was corresponding with messaged me to say that the image was likely a painting done by a relatively important artist named Gilbert Gaul. I was unfamiliar with Gaul, but realized I have seen some of his artwork without knowing who he was. Does the enigmatic caption quoted above give clues to the location of a Sitting Bull painting by a major American artist?