Oil on canvas by Frederic Bazille, 1867. Current repository: Musee d'Orsay (Paris, France).
SHAMANISM:The primitive religion of the Ural-Altaic peoples of Siberia, in which all the good and evil of life are thought to be brought about by spirits who can be influenced only by shamans...; hence applied to similar religions, esp. of North-West American Indians. Also the beliefs, rituals, techniques, etc., associated with a shaman, the general pattern of which is found almost universally in primitive cultures at the food-gathering stage of social development. (From the SXU Library database Oxford English Dictionary.)
Photo of lion sculpture at Art Institute. (Sculpture by Edward Kemey.)