Squaw Dance

Squaw Dance is an oil painting on canvas by Lloyd Moylan, measuring three feet wide and two and a half feet tall.

In Squaw Dance, Moylan takes a documentary approach both in the way he positions the viewer as an onlooker removed from the action, and also in details such as the curls of cigarette smoke. For more about this painting style and the history of this painting, read the “About this Artwork” section above.

The painting captures a lively, nighttime outdoor scene of dancers and a crowd of onlookers. The overall atmosphere of the painting is dark, illuminated only by a central campfire from which rises a cloud of white smoke. A warm glow is cast on two central dancers, a man and a woman, performing what is commonly called a “squaw dance.” The male dancer wears a broad-brimmed hat, a bandana around his neck, and dark brown shirt and pants. He steps—almost lunges—away from the female dancer behind him. She wears a full-length skirt and a shawl with turquoise fringe, which fans out behind her as she hurries to catch the man. She grabs the end of his shirt with her hand.

The top third of the painting shows a dark sky of gray and brown. A large tree on the right extends a long, curving branch with green leaves over the scene.  In the background beneath the tree branch, a large group of men and women stand, possibly watching or dancing themselves. The bottom third of the painting is occupied by a seated crowd wrapped in blankets and shawls, depicted in deep shadows with dark brown and green highlights. Some people in the crowd watch the dancers, while others are turned away, engrossed in conversations. Two people in the crowd smoke cigarettes, and we see the smoke gently waft through in the night.