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Original 11 x 14 photo of Sitting Bull and William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, originally taken in August 1885 by William F. Notman of Montreal and later published by David Francis Barry, affixed to its original 16 x 20 studio mount. Blindstamped toward the bottom of the image (near the butt of Cody's rifle), "Copyright by Barry," and on the mount, "Barry." The studio's label is affixed on the reverse, "D. F. Barry, Photographs of All Noted Indian Chiefs, Photographer 1316 Tower Ave., Superior, Wisconsin."
The iconic image features Sitting Bull on the left, wearing a large feathered headdress and traditional clothing with beadwork and fringe, standing calmly with a composed expression. Beside him on the right is Buffalo Bill, dressed in a decorated Western-style outfit with a wide-brimmed hat, tall boots, and a mustache, holding a long rifle upright and gazing off to the side.
Although the photograph is credited to Notman’s studio, it was copyrighted about a decade later by D. F. Barry, a pioneering photographer of the American West, who helped bring it wider recognition. The image is most commonly seen as a cabinet card; examples of this unusually large size are exceptionally scarce. In fine condition.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody and Sitting Bull, the famed Lakota Sioux leader, were once adversaries during the Indian Wars but later shared a brief, unusual connection in the world of entertainment. Sitting Bull had resisted U.S. expansion and fought to preserve his people’s way of life, famously defeating Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Years later, after surrendering, he joined Cody’s Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1885, where he was paid to appear before audiences as a symbol of the Plains Indian wars. Although their relationship was not close, it reflected a striking shift from conflict to coexistence shaped by changing times and circumstances.
The Western Americana auction of Jochen Zeitz.
