This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/28/2023
DEER, Esther Louise Georgette (1891–1992). PRINCESS WHITE DEER. THE ONLY DANCING AMERICAN INDIAN GIRL. Hamburg: Adolph Friedlander, [1913]. Bright stone lithograph half-length portrait in colors of the famed Mohawk Indian woman who performed in vaudeville and on the European continent with her family of “Champion Indian Trick Riders of the World,” the Deer Brothers. The Princess wears a colorful war bonnet, her portrait framed against an animal hide, with an eagle and American shield overhead. 37¼ × 28". Expert restoration to old fold lines and margins; B. Linen backed. See Exemplars, page 225.
After working alongside her family members as a variety performer, White Deer struck out as a solo artist, dancing in European variety shows. At the dawn of WWI, she returned to America, and eventually found herself a principal in the famed Ziegfeld Follies. By the late 1930s, she had all but abandoned entertainment, and worked as an activist for the rest of her life. Dubbed by one newspaper reporter “The Susan B. Anthony of American Indians,” Deer also used her notoriety to campaign for a variety of causes including the American Indian Defense Association, and giving Native American Women the right to vote.