Custer’s Last Stand

20th Century American School Painting (After N.C. Wyeth)

Provenance
Linda Bean (1941-2024), Port Clyde, Maine until 2024


This iconic subject of this painting was originally created as part of a 1932 advertisement campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes, designed by N.C. Wyeth ca. 1932.

Custer’s Last Stand is dominated by the monumental central figure of General George Custer twisting in a tense, dynamic pose. Custer’s left hand rests upon the head of his fallen horse, while his right hand is raised, and firing his gun into the distance, its vivid orange and red muzzle flash is visible. Custer’s steed, and much of the lower half of the composition is enveloped in smoke and haze, although anecdotal details such as the General’s hat and a discarded rifle emerge. Across the horizon line, a trio of mounted Native warriors are separated from Custer by additional clouds of dust and smoke. One raises his rifle to fire, alluding, perhaps, to the fatal shot that ended Custer’s life during the Battle of Little Big Horn in June of 1876, in the Montana Territory.