Searching for the real Mitch Bouyer

 I've been researching the individuals for my Little Bighorn project and have discovered some interesting, disappointing and disturbing things. For one, this painting of Mitch Bouyer, modeled after the photo of him with Stellar's jays on the sides of his hat, is not Bouyer at all but a famous Ute flutist named Acapore. An involved and well-researched discussion about it can be viewed on https://american-tribes.com

This one stays in my studio. I'm searching for a photo of Bouyer, or a photo of one of his children who could conceivably resemble his/her father. Can anyone out there help?

The Dead of Little Bighorn

"I start the painting, and they show up...."

This is how I describe my approach to a really large task: painting portraits of every person killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which took place on a hot and dusty slope in southeastern Montana June 25-26, 1876. It's almost overwhelming, but not quite.

I feel the need to humanize a battle that is so often described in terms of maneuvers. But mostly I want to honor the dead - more than 300 of them. It will give life to the dead, an idea that sparked in me many years ago when I first visited the battlefield. I felt uneasy when I was there. I felt the ghosts, like something wasn't finished. So I am giving them faces and stories. And then maybe they can rest.

No one knows what most of these guys looked like (very few photos exist,) but I do have enlistment descriptions and stories that guide my paintbrush. Biographies, letters, telegrams and eye-witness accounts will accompany these faces. You will be able to handle everything but the painting. 

There will even be a painting of all the horses lost at this horrific battle.

The 150th anniversary of the battle is in 2026 and I am bringing its aftermath to you in a kind of portable cemetery. I hope you stay awhile and get to know everyone.

Follow me on Instagram for show updates https://www.instagram.com/jennyniemeyerart/