[Native Americans] Chief Thunderbird [Thunderbird, Richard Davis.] (1866–1946) & Spurr, Ervin Willard.
Signed Photograph with Two Further Native American Photographs
Three large exhibition photographs of Native Americans, one signed by the Cheyenne actor Chief Thunder Bird to the photographer, E. Willard Spurr. The photographs depict Thunderbird (dated 1927), Chief Clear Sky, and another Native American actor in a feathered headdress. The photograph of Chief Thunder Bird is signed and inscribed at the lower right: "To E. Willard Spurr, artist. Your friend Thunder Bird, Cheyenne." The photograph of an unidentified man is signed at the foot: "E. Willard Spurr, 'artist.' Pasadena, Calif. 1925." Each photograph stamped by Spurr in the image, with two of them blind-stamped in the lower margin. Two with a small corner loss, partially affecting the inscription; one with a stain at the left. Overall very good. 16 x 19.5 inches (40.5 x 50 cm).The photographer, Ervin Willard Spurr, was born in 1869 New York and grew up in Iowa, where he established his reputation as a photographer, before moving his studio to Pasadena. Among his subjects was Albert Einstein. A collection of his photographs of Native American actors is held at the Library of Congress.
Richard Davis Thunderbird, known as Chief Thunderbird, was a Native American actor of Cheyenne descent, born in Montana in 1866. He appeared in twenty films, including Wild West Days (1937), Custer's Last Stand (1936), Annie Oakley (1935), Heroes of the West (1932), and many others for which he was not credited. (17816)
Signed Photograph Film