Battle of Little Big Horn
1964
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph on wove BFK Rives paper
Dimensions
image: 48.8 × 37 cm (19 3/16 × 14 9/16 in.) sheet: 50.7 × 38.3 cm (19 15/16 × 15 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Bob Stana and Tom Judy
Accession Number
2022.173.46
Art Historical Context
Nathan Oliveira's *Battle of Little Big Horn* (1964) is a striking lithograph that evokes one of the most pivotal clashes in American history: the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. This decisive Native American victory, led by Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors against U.S. Army forces, marked a fleeting moment of Indigenous triumph amid westward expansion. Oliveira, a renowned American printmaker and painter associated with the Bay Area Figurative movement, transforms this event into a modern graphic interpretation, blending historical resonanc...
About the Artist
Nathan Oliveira
Nathan Oliveira (1928–2010) was an American painter and printmaker associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement who developed a distinctive approach to the human figure that balanced gestural expressionism with haunting psychological presence. Born in Oakland, California, to Portuguese immigrant parents, he studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts and Mills College. Oliveira emerg...