Attributed to artist A in Julian Scott's "Ledger Book", late 19th century Ledger Drawing Graphite and coloured pencil on paper Two inscriptions, bottom left "Ute", and bottom right "Sioux". Julian Scott Ledger Book (p. 55) Kiowa, Central Plain 19 x 30.5 cm Ledger Drawing, graphite and colored pencil on paper 7.48 x 12 in. Provenance: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection, New-York Donald Ellis Gallery, New-York Philippe Dennery Collection To the current owner by succession Exhibitions: The Drawing Center, New York, NY, 2 November - 21 December 1996 Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, January 17 - March 30, 1997 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, April 26 - July 13 1997 Frick Art and Historial Center, Pittsburgh, PA, August 7 - October 19, 1997 The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, November 1997 - January 4, 1998 Bibliography: Plains Indian Drawings 1865-1935: Pages From Visual History, Berlo, New York, Harry N. Abrams Inc, Publishers, 1996, p. 150-151 Born between 1860 and 1920 in the United States, "ledger art" is the heir to the Amerindian pictorial tradition. From the 1830s onwards, with the increasing arrival of traders, explorers and soldiers in the Great Plains region, the indigenous peoples used the accounting records used by the whites to document their own history, sometimes drawing directly on existing inventory lists. Initially a chronicle of past glories, ledger art gradually became a poignant testimony to a culture facing assimilation. Julian Scott's Ledger Book is a collection of fifty drawings produced at the end of the 19th century by two or even three Amerindian warriors from the Kiowa nation. Each drawing in the book illustrates scenes of life on the Southern Plains before and during the early period of reservation - a period marked by profound political upheaval and the massive displacement of indigenous populations across the entire Great Plains. Although the names of the Kiowa artists who produced these compositions remain unknown, at least two styles have been identified. By convention, these artists are referred to as "Julian Scott Artist A" and "Julian Scott Artist B", in reference to the first non-Aboriginal owner of the register. Attributed to Julian Scott "Ledger Book" artist A, late 19th century