Jim and His Daughter, Walter Ufer, 1923, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

“The man who makes himself the [Jean-François] Millet of the Indian, who paints him just as he is, as he works, as he lives, will strike the lasting note.” Chicago’s mayor, Carter H. Harrison, Jr., gave this advice to Walter Ufer during the artist’s first summer in New Mexico in 1914, suggesting that he should not, for example, rehash romantic interpretations of Native American life. The artist took Harrison’s advice and depicted the lives and work of contemporary Native Americans, including Ufer’s favorite sitter and close friend, Jim, shown here in profile with his daughter. Gift of Howard Ellis Size: 77.5 × 64.1 cm (30 1/2 × 25 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas

Jim and His Daughter, Walter Ufer, 1923, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

“The man who makes himself the [Jean-François] Millet of the Indian, who paints him just as he is, as he works, as he lives, will strike the lasting note.” Chicago’s mayor, Carter H. Harrison, Jr., gave this advice to Walter Ufer during the artist’s first summer in New Mexico in 1914, suggesting that he should not, for example, rehash romantic interpretations of Native American life. The artist took Harrison’s advice and depicted the lives and work of contemporary Native Americans, including Ufer’s favorite sitter and close friend, Jim, shown here in profile with his daughter. Gift of Howard Ellis Size: 77.5 × 64.1 cm (30 1/2 × 25 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas

The Solemn Pledge, Taos Indians, Walter Ufer, 1910, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

In The Solemn Pledge, Walter Ufer portrayed three generations of Native Americans, combining a bright, saturated palette with sensitively modeled figures. The white robes worn by the boy and two of the men suggest that the group is considering pledging the boy to kiva instruction, a Pueblo tradition of education in ceremonial practices, history, and language. The painting’s subject alludes to the necessary deliberation among early 20th-century Native communities about holding fast to traditions amid governmental assimilation efforts, an issue with ongoing relevance. Ufer, who trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in Munich, was an active member by 1917 of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of white artists dedicated to painting the region’s people and landscape. Friends of American Art Collection Size: 101.9 × 92.1 cm (40 1/8 × 36 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas

Jim and His Daughter, Walter Ufer, 1923, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

“The man who makes himself the [Jean-François] Millet of the Indian, who paints him just as he is, as he works, as he lives, will strike the lasting note.” Chicago’s mayor, Carter H. Harrison, Jr., gave this advice to Walter Ufer during the artist’s first summer in New Mexico in 1914, suggesting that he should not, for example, rehash romantic interpretations of Native American life. The artist took Harrison’s advice and depicted the lives and work of contemporary Native Americans, including Ufer’s favorite sitter and close friend, Jim, shown here in profile with his daughter. Gift of Howard Ellis Size: 77.5 × 64.1 cm (30 1/2 × 25 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas

The Solemn Pledge, Taos Indians, Walter Ufer, 1910, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

In The Solemn Pledge, Walter Ufer portrayed three generations of Native Americans, combining a bright, saturated palette with sensitively modeled figures. The white robes worn by the boy and two of the men suggest that the group is considering pledging the boy to kiva instruction, a Pueblo tradition of education in ceremonial practices, history, and language. The painting’s subject alludes to the necessary deliberation among early 20th-century Native communities about holding fast to traditions amid governmental assimilation efforts, an issue with ongoing relevance. Ufer, who trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in Munich, was an active member by 1917 of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of white artists dedicated to painting the region’s people and landscape. Friends of American Art Collection Size: 101.9 × 92.1 cm (40 1/8 × 36 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas

The Solemn Pledge, Taos Indians, Walter Ufer, 1910, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

In The Solemn Pledge, Walter Ufer portrayed three generations of Native Americans, combining a bright, saturated palette with sensitively modeled figures. The white robes worn by the boy and two of the men suggest that the group is considering pledging the boy to kiva instruction, a Pueblo tradition of education in ceremonial practices, history, and language. The painting’s subject alludes to the necessary deliberation among early 20th-century Native communities about holding fast to traditions amid governmental assimilation efforts, an issue with ongoing relevance. Ufer, who trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in Munich, was an active member by 1917 of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of white artists dedicated to painting the region’s people and landscape. Friends of American Art Collection Size: 101.9 × 92.1 cm (40 1/8 × 36 1/4 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas