Land of Sip-O-Phe by Julius Rolshoven
The monumental work presents a highly romanticized and ethnocentric view of Native Americans as a noble yet vanishing people. In 1920 El Palacio magazine (volume 8, issue 1, p.54), quotes the Chicago Tribune, "Beyond the spectacle of Indian horsemen traveling in procession through the desert region, the illumination of the downcast faces on their last journey to "The Land of Sip'ophe" (The Hereafter), the painter has invested the scene with a spirituality and a sense of supreme dignity . . . Its epic quality is on the lofty plane of a poem to vanishing races and historically it is a national monument to which America should honor." This painting traveled throughout the country, being exhibited at The Museum of Art in Santa Fe, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Detroit Museum of Art before eventually being given to the library in 1955 by the artist's widow, Mrs. Harriette Blozo Rolshoven.