TRIBAL FANTASY

Riggs, Robert

Published by [Philadelphia, 1949

About this Item

Dry pigment, mastic varnish, and drying alcohol, on panel, 25 x 36 inches. Signed lower right: "Robert Riggs." In fine condition. In a burnished gilt wood frame. Fantastical painting by Robert Riggs, showing two Indian warriors performing the Sun Dance, the first with ropes attached to piercings on his chest, and the second attached by piercings at his eyelids. Buffalo skulls also swing from ropes attached to the dancers, while they hold feather-covered leather shields. Blood streams from all their piercings. In classic Riggs style, each bead on the moccasins of the dancers is picked out clearly, and the painting is thick with Native details. Robert Riggs (1896-1970) was in his heyday one of the best-known artists and illustrators in the United States. After studies at the Art Students League and service during World War I, Riggs settled in Philadelphia, his home base for the rest of his life. In the 1930s and '40s he rose to national prominence as an illustrator, lithographer, and commercial artist, producing well-known images of boxers and circuses (two life-long obsessions), and of soldiers during World War II. In 1940, around the peak of his career as an illustrator, his drawings commanded $750- $1500 each, and his name was as well-known in the trade as that of Norman Rockwell. But Riggs loathed this commercial work, and after 1950 he slid increasingly into obscurity, although revered by those who knew him in the Philadelphia art world. When he died in 1970, he was almost forgotten. Riggs was never comfortable working in oils or watercolor, preferring dry mediums such as pencil and charcoal. For the few large paintings he created, he employed a technique of blending dry pigments with mastic varnish and alcohol, working on panels he had especially manufactured for his use. This technique, which creates a surface similar to the look of egg tempera, adds to the extraordinary character of Riggs' major compositions. Riggs had a particular fascination with American Indians. In his days of affluence during the Depression and World War II, he formed a major collection of American Indian artifacts. According to his biographer, he owned "an odd and unsettling collection of American Indian artifacts.He was a serious and widely read amateur anthropologist, whose hobby, an expensive one into which he happily poured much of his substantial income.was guided in part by Frank N. Speck of the University of Pennsylvania, a friend who was perhaps the foremost authority then on Indians of the Northeast." This collection played an important part in the creation of the present painting, and particular artifacts depicted are probably based on items in his collection. Riggs clearly went to great lengths to make the finely realized details of his painting completely accurate. His own collections and his friendship with Speck aided him in this (Riggs did small drawings of artifacts for several of Speck's publications). Thus, such details as the figures' elaborate body paint are based on Riggs' understanding of the Native American traditions and practices at work in the ceremony. At the same time, the distortions of scale and perspective typical of Riggs' flamboyant paintings are fully in evidence. Seller Inventory # WRCAM48574

Bibliographic Details

Title: TRIBAL FANTASY

Publisher: [Philadelphia

Publication Date: 1949