b'Recipients continued from page 40Hall of Fame, and the National Cowboy and WesternAmerican art collection assembled by H.J. Lutcher Heritage Hall of Fame. He was the rst Native AmericanStark and his wife Nelda Childers Stark, which to win the World Champion Saddle Bronc title atencompassed art from John J. Audubon to twentieth-Pendleton, Oregon, yet many have never heard of thiscentury artists of New Mexico. The Museum is impressive cowboy who lived during the time of Chiefscommitted to preserving, researching, exhibiting, and Joseph and Sitting Bull. Jackson Sundown was the nameexpanding its collections. The breadth of its cowboy he chose for himself, but his given name was Waaya- holdings includes bronzes by Frederic Remington and Tonah-Toesits-Kahn (Earth Left by the Setting Sun orCharles M. Russell, illustrations by N.C. Wyeth and Blanket of the Sun). Born in Montana in 1863, he was aFrank Tenney Johnson, carved caricatures by Andy nephew of the great Chief Joseph. Historical accounts ofAnderson, and illustrations and stylized gures of his life report that he displayed traits of a superior athletepioneers, hunters, and wranglers by William Herbert at a young age, including riding his pony from the timeDunton. The Museum continues to make acquisitions, he could walk. At age 14, his horse handling skills earnedincluding contemporary works by Robert Lougheed, him the privilege of caring for his tribes horses andDon Russell, and Thomas Blackshear. It has published herding them when they moved camp.research, such as its catalog The Western Collection 1978, and an in-depth study on The Art and Life of W. On Aug. 9, 1877, Waaya-Tonah-Toesits-Kahn displayedHerbert Dunton. The Stark supported the publication great cunning when his people were ambushed by theby the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Frederic U.S. cavalry at Big Hole in Montana territory. AlthoughRemington: A Catalogue Raisonn II, and its online badly burned, he survived the attack by hiding under acatalog. The Museum, which has four permanent buffalo robe after the cavalry torched his mothers teepee.galleries that feature Western themes and collections, Another display of his bravery occurred when the Nezalso makes its collections available digitally through Perce, en route to Sitting Bulls camp in Canada, stoppedits website and with loans to educational exhibitions to rest near Snake Creek in the Bear Paw Mountains.at other museums. The museum curator, Sarah E. Unbeknownst to the Nez Perce, Brigadier GeneralBoehme, has a long history of working to preserve the Nelson Miles had been ordered to nd and interceptSculpture, by Greg Polutanovich, of rodeo legend, western and cowboy lifestyle.them. They made a surprise attack on the Nez PerceNez Perce horseman, Jackson Sundown, on Main Streetand, after a three-day stand-off, war-weary Chief Josephin Pendleton Oregon. The programming and culture of the Stark exemplify surrendered, declaring he would ght no more forever.the spirit of the cowboy through exhibitions that feature Yet again showing his prowess as a warrior, a woundedAmerican, an African American, and a white American.and celebrate the history and mythology of the cowboy. Sundown escaped. Despite having no blankets or food,In 1915, Sundown again made the Saddle Bronc FinalsIn 2017, the Museums major exhibition Branding the he and a smallfor the World Championship at Pendleton and whenAmerican West: Paintings and Films, 1900-1950 detailed band of survivorshe again placed third, he decided to retire. However,the rise of cowboy popularity through lm, an important made their way toartist Alexander Proctor, who was sculpting Sundowninfluence in how cowboys have been perceived over the Sitting Bulls campat the time, persuaded the 53-year-old to enter the 1916past 100 years. The exhibition and accompanying catalog in Canada, to live inPendleton Round-up and even paid his entrance fee.helped develop new scholarship related to cowboy culture hiding. Two yearsSundowns skill as a horseman and his exceptional rodeoand history. The Stark also mounted an incredible show of later, he secretlyprowess were undeniable the day of the competition. Inthe work of photographer Edward S. Curtis in 2018. rode to Washington,the nal ride, Sundown drew an outlaw bronc named where Joseph andAngel. It is said Sundown became one with the horse.In 2018, the Museum focused on two major exhibitions his followers wereAs Angel tried one last attempt at throwing him off,related to the cowboy. The rst, Portraits from Cowboys conned to a smallSundown fanned his big hat at the horse. That ride madeof Color: Photographs by Don Russell centered on reservation. Josephhim a permanent legend in Native American historyblack rodeo cowboys. This exhibition highlighted warned him notand Pendleton history. Pitted against him were two greatthe modern role of black Americans in the rodeo to come to thatbronc riders half his age, both of whom made epic rides,tradition, thus helping expand our vision of the reservation, sobut Sundowns ride so far surpassed theirs, he could notAmerican cowboy. It featured portraits of contemporary Sundown traveledbe denied. He rode gloriously into the championshipcowboys and cowgirls who ride and rope in Cowboys instead to theamid an ovation never before witnessed, when tenof Color rodeos. The works reveal a tradition of black Flathead Reservation, where he lived for years, marryingthousand fans cheered themselves hoarse.cowboy culture often overlooked in history and art. and raising two daughters. In 1910, Sundown rejoinedThe second exhibition, Cowboy Legends, and Life his tribe on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, whereJackson Sundowns last public appearance was inexplored the imagery of the cowboy and cowgirl as he accepted an allotment of land and built a cabin. He1917 with Idaho Governor Moses Alexander. In 1923,icons in American Western art. It presented both the remarried and built a home at Jacques Spur, making aSundown died of pneumonia. He was buried nearidealization and the working life of men and women of living breeding, raising, breaking, and selling horses. Jacques Spur, Idaho, notthe West, as seen through the Museums even acknowledged as anpermanent collections. Both exhibits At age 49, Sundown began entering rodeo events inAmerican citizen when hewere enhanced by educational and Canada and Idaho to earn extra money. He cut a strikingdied, as Congress did notcommunity-based programs.gure in a big Panama hat, with his long braids tiedvote until 1924 to recognize under his chin by a handkerchief, wearing brightlyNative Americans asThe Museum has celebrated the colored shirts and large wooly angora chaps. HisUnited States citizens.National Day of the Cowboy for flamboyant look and style made him a crowd favorite.Native American Cowboyseveral years, and as part of its 2018 Although twice the age of his competitors, the six-foot- Jackson Sundowns lifecelebration, hosted a panel discussion tall Indian not only won the bucking championshipstory is epic. His strikingStories from Cowboys of Color: An but would win cash all-around titles as well. He soimage is recorded forAfternoon with Don Russell, Cleo dominated the sport that many opponents withdrewhistory in photographsHearn, Baileys Prairie Kid, Myrtis upon learning he would be competing. and in sculptures ofDightman, and Jason Griffin, These bronze and stone, whileimportant African American cowboys In 1911, Sundown made the Saddle Bronc nals for thehis grand adventures areshared stores of their lives on the rodeo World Championship at the Pendleton Round-Up, anchronicled in museums,circuit and as working cowboys. This event that ended in controversy and protest. Reportsdocumentaries, and books. helped underscore the role of Black were that Sundown took third after falling from hisAmericans in cowboy culture and horse which had run into one of the judges horses, butStark Museum of modern practice. The Mayor attended he was not given a re-ride. Western novelist, Rick Steber,ArtOrange, Texas and read the Orange, Texas, National chronicled the event in his book, Red White Black, asThe Stark Museum ofDay of the Cowboy proclamation. Cleo one that forever changed the sport of rodeo and theArt opened in NovemberHearn, founder of the Cowboys of way the emerging West was to look at itself, because1978, exhibiting theColor Rodeo is himself a 2011 Cowboy that championship decision came down to a Nativeextraordinary WesternKeeper Award recipient.42 September 2019'