Winold Reiss (1886-1953)
Indian Chief, c. 1927
watercolor on paper
28.5 x 20.75 inches
36.25 x 28.5 inches (frame)
signed lower left center: Winold Reiss; verso: inscribed "From Walter Hill to William P. Kenney, President Great Northern Railroad, Christmas 1927"

Winold Reiss honed his skills in Munich before immigrating to the United States in 1913. In 1919, Reiss received a commission from the Great Northern Railroad to create portraits of the Blackfeet Confederacy, beginning a nearly thirty-year collaboration during which his depictions of Northwest Native Americans adorned numerous posters, menus, calendars, cards, and advertisements for the railway. Indian Chief was a special commission from Walter Hill, son of the Great Northern Railroad founder James J. Hill, and was presented as a gift to William P. Kenney, President of the Great Northern Railroad, for Christmas in 1927. Walter worked on the Western lines of the railroad for a time, but his real passion was for cowboy life, and he spent many years running a ranch in the Red River Valley.

The artwork appears to be in good condition. There is no evidence of restoration.