Chief Joseph, the renowned peacemaker who served as chief for the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Indians, has been dead since 1904, but he lives on in the University’s Knight Law School.
On Friday afternoon in the Wayne Morse Commons, there was a ceremony unveiling a 7-by-4 1/2-foot portrait of the chief, an oil painting so detailed it resembles a black and white photo. Named for Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce name, which means “thunder rolling in the mountains,” “Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt” was painted by Portland artist Jim Gronsand and will remain in the Knight Law School for the next two years.
“I wanted to put it into a public domain, a position I call a ‘public conservatorship,’ because I’m going to be traveling,” Gronsand explained.
Gronsand started the portrait in a painting class at Portland Community College in 1974, inspired by Chief Joseph’s famous “I Will Fight No More Forever” speech. When the term ended, he brought his incomplete piece home and because of time constraints and nerves – “The further I got away from it, the more intimidated I was to go back to it,” he said – it remained largely untouched.
A painting instructor recently encouraged Gronsand to get back to “Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt” and with an upcoming two-year trip to Turkey, Gronsand wanted his painting to be finished should something happen to him while he’s abroad. He applied the final coat of varnish on Wednesday.
“It’s beautiful,” said third-year law student Hillary Renick. “It really conveys all of his effort and his heart … You look at it and you can feel the emotion of it, it’s special.”
“Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-keht” is the latest addition to the Knight Law Center’s art collection.
When Dutch-born photographer Erna Gilbertson moved to Oregon, she fell in love with the Willamette Valley’s lakes, rivers, rainforests, cliffs, mountains and flora. Her 21-piece exhibit, “Nuances of Nature,” will be on display in the Oregon Law School Gallery through May 26.
“Erna’s photography captures the great beauty of the world around us,” University law professor Dominick Vetri wrote in an e-mail.
At the ceremony Friday, Vetri said that given Chief Joseph’s history of peacefully trying to fight the government that kept taking his tribe’s land, a larger-than-life likeness of him will serve the law school well.
“The portrait will be a reminder to us, as lawyers and lawyers-to-be, to keep our promises and uphold our ideals,” he said.
Across the bottom of the canvas, Gronsand painted one of Chief Joseph’s quotations, which included the words, “You might as well expect rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.”
Renick, the public relations officer of the University’s Native American Law Students Association, agreed with Vetri.
“Sometimes in law, you get lost in the sterility of the law school. To have something that reminds you of the real struggles out there is just amazing,” she said “(Chief Joseph) was unable to receive justice. It reminds us of our job we’ve got to do.”
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