Champollion Furniture

Andre Champollion, the grandson of J.F. Champollion, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, was born in Paris, France September 20, 1880. He attended and graduated from Harvard University in 1902 and lived in New York City. He was called to enlist in the French army during World War I and was killed in action on March 23, 1914. After Andre graduated from Harvard, he spent the following year traveling the globe. Most of his work was influenced by the places he traveled to, the people he met, and the cultures he experienced. Most of his collection was donated to Harvard University by Andre’s wife, Adelaide Bramwell in 1931. This collection of sketches, drawings, paintings, notebooks, and photographs currently resides at the Peabody Museum. Andre Champollion’s painting of Sitting Bull is one of his greatest masterpieces. Sitting Bull is an iconic Native American figure known throughout the world for his resistance against the United States Army and uniting the Sioux tribes. His first battle against the US army was in 1863, and again in 1864, each interaction convinced Sitting Bull to never sign a treaty that would force his people onto a reservation. Unfortunately, his chief signed a treaty for the Great Sioux Reservation in 1868. In 1874, gold was discovered within the borders of their reservation. The US government redrew the reservation lines to force the Native Americans to move 240 miles in the middle of winter. Sitting Bull refused and with the help of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux tribes, they faced off against General George Crook on June 17, 1876, winning the battle. Sitting Bull’s most famous battle victory was June 25, 1876, against General George Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Three thousand Native Americans against six hundred military men. However, in May 1877, Sitting Bull moved his people to Canada to escape the US government and starvation due to the decreasing buffalo population that his tribe relied on. Despite the move, resources became scarce and Sitting Bull surrendered to the US Army on July 20, 1881 in exchange for pardons for his people. He was a prisoner of war at Fort Randall in South Dakota for two years until he was moved to Standing Rock Reservation. The Ghost Dance...