Art of James Bama with Chester Medicine Crow

"Chester Medicine Crow's visit to my home was a highlight of my early years in Wyoming. He was the first male Indian I ever painted. He was part yesterday and part today. He was also stone deaf so I was unable to tell him the way I wanted him to pose. He seemed to want to sit stiffly so that's the way I painted him. I found it ironic that Indians often use the American flag as a motif in their arts and crafts depite the injustices done to them by the U.S. Army and government. Even so, this man was proud of his accomplishments as a Native American, both before and after the white man came."