Siŋté Máza (Iron Tail), Lakota Celebrity: Archetype and Individual

Siŋt. M.za (Iron Tail) was one of the most recognizable Buffalo Bill’s Wild West performers. Featured and named in many photographs, posters, and films, he was often the only named model of three sitters for James Earle Fraser's Indian head nickel in 1913. Yet visual representations of him are often layered and oscillate between presenting him as an individual and as an archetype. Sometimes images of other Native Americans are labeled with his name, and in this way, he functions as a stand-.‐in for all Indians and an icon wearing a war bonnet. But other photographs show him in other guises; at least two portrait studio photographs were commissioned, and he poses out of regalia to build a different identification as a western man and hunter. He also made at least two drawings and likely commissioned a large‐scale muslin drawn by another Lakota performer narrating his family history. These representations underscore the ways in which he actively used photographs and material culture to construct his role as a cultural and political ambassador for the Lakota nation, navigating between assimilation and cultural tradition. This talk interprets the visual strategies of archetyping and individuating through representations of the performer.