The two portraits at left found on vintage calendars were originally portraits by the German-American artist Winold Reiss. Reiss came to the United States in 1913 and completed several bodies of work, most notably several large murals at the art-deco style Cincinnati Union Terminal. He also completed a series of portraits of Native Americans including the two at left of a "Cut-Nose" or Dakota woman and "White Dog" man. The so-called "Cut-Nose" woman is a reference to the Dakota uprising of 1862 in which the Dakota revolted and massacred several whites. In retaliation, around 30 Dakota were rounded up and executed after the hostilities ended.
Reiss must have been fascinated by the existence of these indigenous people living in the midst of the expanding European populations in America, having just arrived from the highly nationalistic, but ethnically homogenous societies of Europe. Perhaps part of the fascination with these populations was the extent to which their physical differences from the "new" Americans pointed out not only their cultural peculiarities, but also obscured features which traditionally distinguish gender among Eurpean populations.
Cut Nose Woman and White Dog
