ticketsMember | Make a donation

The Kiowa Pantheon

Silver Horn, Haungooah Native American
1904
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This painting is the only known depiction of sacred beings from Kiowa religion and myth. Smithsonian anthropologist James Mooney commissioned the work from Silver Horn, one of the most accomplished, innovative, and prolific Plains artists of his time. A trickster named Saynday stands in the center; behind him is Sapoul, a cannibal ogre. On the far left is the deep-river monster Water Buffalo. The painting was unveiled in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in Saint Louis.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Kiowa Pantheon
  • Artist: Silver Horn, Haungooah (Native American, Kiowa, 1860–1940)
  • Date: 1904
  • Geography: United States, Oklahoma
  • Culture: Kiowa
  • Medium: Native-tanned leather, pigment
  • Dimensions: Width: 52 in. (132.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Department of Anthropology (E229900-0)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing