Yellow Wings

Yellow Wings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum belongs to Sharp's sustained campaign of individual portrait studies made at the Crow Agency and related sites in Montana. The name Yellow Wings suggests Crow naming conventions that often connected individuals to natural phenomena, animals, or birds, and Sharp preserved these names with care. His presence at the Crow Agency over multiple extended visits allowed him to build the trust and develop the sustained observational relationships with his subjects that distinguished his work from the brief encounters of travelling painters.

Sharp's handling of feathered headwear and other adornments is carefully observed, rendering the specific textures and colours of ceremonial materials without the exoticising tendency found in less careful Western painters. He balances the visual interest of adornment against the primacy of the face.