William R. Leigh's Buffalo Hunt

William R. Leigh, The Buffalo Hunt, 1947, oil on canvas, 78 1/4 x 126 1/4 inches. Rockwell Foundation purchase 78.37

Leigh's ability to paint animals with absolute accuracy made him a popular western painter.  And true to detail, Buffalo Hunt's gruesome imagery does more to appall than to appeal. Nevertheless, it is one of the most dramatic and intriguing paintings in the collection. Companion to the equally large "Buffalo Drive" hanging in the Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, this spectacular painting does much to reveal the prejudices and perceptions of its time.

An exquisite artist and storyteller, Leigh painted vividly of what was thought to be emerging knowledge: Anthropological and archeological studies had revealed that game jumps-driving herds of large animals over a cliff-had indeed been a hunting technique of Native American tribes as well as many ancient peoples all over the world. Like many European- Americans of the time, Leigh conflated ancient methods with modern tribes who had primarily abandoned buffalo jumps after the introduction of horses almost 500 years prior. Horses had allowed hunters to better match the speed and size of their prey, eliminating the reliance on gravity to overpower the massive buffalo.

In Leigh's time and for centuries prior, prejudice and ignorance led many of European descent to equate current Native American cultures to that of Neolithic man, or ‘cave men'. Only sixty years later, revised and enlightened understanding underscores the sophisticated and adaptive nature of the numerous Native American societies. That should not cause viewers to automatically dismiss works like "Buffalo Jump" and "Buffalo Hunt" as hopelessly flawed and therefore irrelevant. Leigh's artistic treatment-the imposing size, the glorious colors, the majestic Indians-betrays a fascination and appreciation for the subject matter, and does much to visually transcend its deficiencies. Ultimately, "Buffalo Jump" is a symbol of how powerful images can be. It prevails upon the viewer to consider what can be learned from differing perspectives and the collision of cultures.