Inaugural Parade (SOLD)

“Inaugural Parade”

Thirty-five thousand people attended Teddy Roosevelt’s Second Inaugural Parade on March 4, 1905.  Leading the parade were six of the most prominent Indian Chiefs in America, including Geronimo and Comanche Chief, Quanah Parker.  They were personally invited by President Roosevelt to come to Washington to lead his parade.

What a sight that must have been!  This was 30 years after Quanah Parker had surrendered to the Texas Rangers and led his last band of Comanches to Fort Sill.

How unpredictable that within only three decades, the Comanche Chief had gone from being an enemy of the Federal Government to be a national celebrity!   Roosevelt received quite a lot of criticism for this and his press secretary questioned the wisdom of bringing Geronimo and the others who had been without a doubt the most notorious murderers in US History.  Roosevelt quipped in his typical fashion, “I wanted to give the people a good show!”

This is the fifth piece in my series of paintings depicting the culture clash between the Texians and the Comanches, especially Chief Quanah Parker.

The painting is 48”x60” and is Acrylic painted on 120-year-old, handwritten deeds from Parker County Texas. The style is influenced by the Plains Indian Ledger Art of the 19th Century.  These deeds conveyed Land once controlled by the Comanches.  In this most recent work, a large part of the picture plane reveals the historic documents, and these actual relics from the time period of the event have become an important part of the artwork both visually and symbolically.