22. Photograph depicting "The Warrior Woman" or "Winyan Kipanpi Win - The Woman You Call", title and name given to Queen Maria by the chief of the Sioux tribe, November 11, 1926, in a period frame decorated with Celtic motifs (probably the Queen's design), rare piece.

The visit of Queen Marie of Romania to the United States of America was quite sensational at the time. After she met with American officials, President Calvin Coolidge, the Mayor of New York, and impressed America with her intelligence, political vision, beauty, and elegance, the queen met with the tribal heads of the native Americans from the Sioux and Blackfoot tribes. On her way west, Queen Marie visited farms, attended rodeos, and met with the tribal chiefs of the native Americans in North Dakota and Mandan localities, the most important of whom was the great chief Red Tomahawk. The native Americans of the Blackfoot tribe named Queen Marie "Morning Star", while the Sioux tribe declared her "Winyan Kipanpi Win", translated as "The Woman whom you call". As a supreme sign of respect and adoption into the tribe as a chief, the native Americans gifted the queen a crown of eagle feathers, a very rare distinction which is not given to women unless they have distinguished themselves by bravery and sacrifice in war. The native Americans held speeches and danced around the queen, naming her "Warrior Woman". The oldest of Indian tribal chiefs, Red Tomahawk, held a speech in front of the queen, conferring on her the title of honorary chief. Then the queen was received with great ceremony, in front of a tent, by native Americans dressed in holiday clothes, richly decorated with feathers, and painted on their faces. They danced in the queen's honor, a dance which, according to the queen, very much resembled the "Călușari" game from Romanian lands. In the journal kept in America, the queen describes the native Americans as "a picturesque group of ferocious warriors, exactly like the image from our childhood books". The visit was highly photographed and publicized at the time, including through newsreel films. In one of these, one can see how Queen Marie dresses in the specific costume and enjoys the entire ceremony, the music, the dance, and the unique spectacle offered by her hosts.

Dimensions

width 21.5 cm, height 16.5 cm

Research information

The photograph was part of the exhibition "Queen Maria at Brukenthal" during the period May-July 2025.

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