War exploit robe

The artist Edmund Morris commissioned Running Rabbit, chief of the North Blackfoot tribe, to paint his war exploits in the traditional manner on a buffalo hide. Morris had brought the hide, which had been used as a sleigh robe, from Toronto. Traditionally, such a painting served as a pictograph record of a warrior's deeds, and wearing it as a robe announced his elevated status to the community. The figures on the Running Rabbit robe are colour-coded: the Blackfoot in blue, the enemy Cree in red, and the enemy Crow in yellow. It was probably Running Rabbit's son, White Man, who drew the more realistic looking bear and buffalo vignettes around the perimeter of the robe, and perhaps the more central figure of the archer. Morris recorded the execution of the painting in a series of photographs. One shows Running Rabbit explaining the events on the robe to a group of Blackfoot dignitaries, while his son Houghton writes down the stories in English for the collector.