Effigy Pipe
Harry Dupree, Dakota (Santee Sioux), Minnesota
As a means of prayer among Native people, pipes have been used to give thanks, to establish new relations and seal agreements, to mark important passages of ceremonial life, and to begin important expeditions. Considered to be one of the earliest Native artforms, pipes continue to be made and have a central importance in spiritual lives.
During the Great Depression, Harry Dupree participated in a federal program which encouraged native artists to quarry catlinite, a soft red stone traditionally used for pipes, from the Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota. Artists in this program sold pipes and other works to the local museum and trading posts. This pipe with the action of the chase conveyed through the flowing lines of the horse and rider and buffalo, was created as a sculpture rather than a ceremonial pipe in the traditional sense.
ca. 1930, catlinite (pipestone)
Glenbow Museum, acc. AF 1621a-c.
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