Lakota portraits by Catlin

[Dietmar]

From the "Catalogue of Catlin's Indian gallery of portraits, landscapes, manners and customs, costumes, etc.", these are the Lakota portraits artist George Catlin painted in the 1830ies:

SIOUX. (Dah-co-tah.)

• 66 Ha-won-je-tah—One Horn. First chief of the tribe.
Mee-ne-cou-e-gee Baud, Upper Missouri. The Sioux have 41 Bands; every Band has a Chief, and this man is head of all ; hair tied in form of a turban, and filled with glue and red earth or vermillion
(this man has recently been killed by a Buffalo bull.)



• 71 Ka-pes-ka-da—The Shell. Brave, of the Oglala Band, Upper Missouri.



• 73 Tchan-dee—Tobacco. Second Chief of the nation, Oglala-Band, Missouri River.



• 74 Wuk-mi-ser—Corn. Brave, of the Ne-cow-ee-ge Band, Upper Missouri.



• 75 Chah-tee-wa-ne-chee—No Heart, (man without a heart) Chief of the Wah-ne-wach-to-ne-nah Band, Upper Missouri.



• 76 Ee.ah-sa pa—The Black Rock. Chief of the Nee-caw-wee-gee Band, full length, in a splendid costume, painted robe, and head-dress of the war eagle's quills, Upper Missouri.



• 78 Mah-to-rah-rish-nee-eeh-ee-rah—Grisly Bear, that runs without regard. A Brave of the Onc-pa-pa Band, Upper Missouri.



• 79 Mah-to-chee-ga—Little Bear. Brave, Upper Missouri.



• 80 Heh-hah-ra-pah—Elk's Head. Chief of Ee-ta-sip-shov Band, Upper Missouri.



• 81 Wi-looh-tah-eh-tchah-ta-mah-nee—The Red Thing that touches in marching. A woman, Upper Missouri. (daughter of Black Rock)



• 82 Tah-teck-a-da-hair—The Steep Wind, (or arriving wind.) A Brave of the Ca-za-zhee-ta Band, (bad arrow points,) Upper Missouri.



• 83 Tchon-su-mons-ka—The Sand Bar. Woman of the Teton Band, Upper Missouri.



• 84 Shon-ka—The Dog. Chief of the Bad Arrow Points, Upper Missouri.



• 85 Mah-to-een-nah-pa—White Bear that goes out. Chief of the Black Foot Sioux Band, Upper Missouri.




As you can see, I´m not sure about the portrait for Grizzly Bear Who Runs Without Regard (Hunkpapa) and Elk´s Head (Sans Arc). Has anyone the missing portrait?

Please add any information you like regarding the men above.

Thanks

Dietmar

[kingsleybray]

Thankyou, Dietmar, for pulling these Catlin portraits together. I was of course really interested in the 'new' ones of White Bear that Goes Out (Blackfoot Sioux chief), and either Grizzly Bear that Runs Without Regard (Hunkpapa brave) or Elk Head (Sans Arc chief). I thought these portraits must be among the Catlin pictures destroyed in the Smithsonian Institution fire in 1865, so I was thrilled to see them.

Many will be excited to see a possible portrait of Elk Head, since he would have been the Keeper of the Calf Pipe Bundle (perhaps the grandfather of the Elk Head who kept the Pipe between 1877 and 1915 and was photographed by Curtis). However, I have to say that the age and presentation of this man would seem to point to his being a "brave" rather than a chief - so perhaps he is the Hunkpapa.

Have you any further documentation on the id and provenance of these two portraits?

Again, I was thrilled to see the pictures

Kingsley

[Dietmar]

Kingsley,

unfortunately I don´t have any more information regarding the two "new" paintings. I must have copied them a long time ago from a website that doesn´t exists anymore.

Here are some excerpts from Catlin´s letters:

Besides these distingues of this great and powerful tribe, I painted in regular succession, according to their rank and standing, Wan-ee-ton, chief of the Susseton band; Tah-zee-kah-da-cha (The Torn Belly), a brave of the Yancton band; Ka-pes-ka-day (The Shell), a brave of the O-gla-la band; Wuk-mi-ser (Corn), a warrior of the Nee-cow-ee-gee band; Cha-tee-wah-nee-chee (No Heart), chief of the Wah-nee-watch-to-nee-nah band; Mah-to-ra-rish-nee-eeh-ee-rah (The Grizzly Bear That Runs Without Regard), a brave of the Onc-pa-pa band; Mah-to-chee-ga (The Little Bear), a distinguished brave; Shon-ka (The Dog), chief of the Ca-za-zhee-ta (bad arrow points) band; Tah-teck-a-da-hair (The Steep Wind), a brave of the same band; Hah-ha-ra-pah (The Elk's Head), chief of the Ee-ta-sip-shov band ; Mah-to-een-nah-pa (The White Bear That Goes Out), chief of the Blackfoot Sioux band; Shon-ga-ton-ga-chesh-en-day (The Horse Dung), chief of a band, a great conjuror and magician.
The portraits of all the above dignitaries can be always seen, as large as life, in my very numerous Collection, provided I get them safe home; and also the portraits of two very pretty Sioux women. Wi-looh-tah-eeh-tehah-ta-mah-nee (The Red Thing That Touches In Marching), and, Tehon-su-mons-ka (The Sand Bar). The first of these women, is the daughter of the famous chief called Black Rock, of whom I have spoken, and whose portrait has been given. She is an unmarried girl, and much esteemed by the whole tribe, for her modesty, as well as beauty. She was beautifully dressed in skins, ornamented profusely with brass buttons and beads. Her hair was plaited, her ears supported a great profusion of curious beads -- and over her other dress she wore a handsomely garnished buffalo robe.
So highly was the Black Rock esteemed (as I have before mentioned), and his beautiful daughter admired and respected by the Traders, that Mr. MCKENZIE employed me to make him copies of their two portraits, which he has hung up in Mr. Laidlaw's trading-house, as valued ornaments and keepsakes.
The second of these women was very richly dressed, the upper part of her garment being almost literally covered with brass buttons; and her hair, which was inimitably beautiful and soft, and glossy as silk; fell over her shoulders in great profusion, and in beautiful waves, produced by the condition in which it is generally kept in braids, giving to it, when combed out, a waving form, adding much to its native appearance, which is invariably straight and graceless.
This woman is at present the wife of a white man by the name of Chardon, a Frenchman, who has been many years in the employment of the American Fur Company, in the character of a Trader and Interpreter; and who by his bold and dating nature, has not only carried dread and consternation amongst the Indian tribes wherever he has gone; but has commanded much respect, and rendered essential service to the Company in the prosecution of their dangerous and critical dealings with the Indian tribes. I have said something of this extraordinary man heretofore, and shall take future occasion to say more of him. For the present, suffice it to say, that although from his continual intercourse with the different tribes for twenty-five or thirty years, where he had always been put forward in the front of danger--sent as a sacrifice, or forlorn hope; still his cut and hacked limbs have withstood all the blows that have been aimed at them; and his unfaltering courage leads him to "beard the lion in his den", whilst his liberal heart, as it always has, deals out to his friends (and even to strangers, if friends are not by) all the dear earnings which are continually bought with severest toil, and at the hazard of his life.

One Horn, Miniconjou:

I mentioned that this is the nucleus or place of concentration of the numerous tribe of the Sioux, who often congregate here in great masses to make their trades with the American Fur Company; and that on my way up the river, some months since, I found here encamped, six hundred families of Sioux, living in tents covered with buffalo hides. Amongst these there were twenty or more of the different bands, each one with their chief at their head, over whom was a superior chief and leader, a middle-aged man, of middling stature, with a noble countenance, and a figure almost equaling the Apollo, and I painted his portrait. The name of this chief is Ha-won-je-tah (The One Horn) of the Mee-ne-cow-e-gee band, who has risen rapidly to the highest honours in the tribe, from his own extraordinary merits, even at so early an age. He told me that he took the name of "One Horn" (or shell) from a simple small shell that was hanging on his neck, which descended to him from his father, and which, he said, he valued more than anything he possessed; affording a striking instance of the living affection which these people often cherish for the dead, inasmuch as he chose to carry this name through life in preference to many others and more honourable ones he had a right to have taken, from different battles and exploits of his extraordinary life. He treated me with great kindness and attention, considering himself highly complimented by the signal and unprecedented: honour I had conferred upon him by painting his portrait, and that before I had invited any other. His costume was a very handsome one, and will have a place in my INDIAN GALLERY by the side of his picture. It is made of elk skins beautifully dressed, and fringed with a profusion of porcupine quills and scalp-locks; and his hair, which is very long and profuse, divided into two parts, and lifted up and crossed, over the top of his head, with a simple tie, giving it somewhat the appearance of a Turkish turban.
This extraordinary man, before he was raised to the dignity of chief, was the renowned of his tribe for his athletic achievements. In the chase he was foremost; he could run down a buffalo, which he often had done, on his own legs, and drive his arrow to the heart. He was the fleetest in the tribe; and is the races he had run, he had always taken the prize.
It was proverbial in his tribe, that Ha-wan-je-tah's bow never was drawn in vain, and his wigwam was abundantly furnished with scalps that he had taken from his enemies' heads in battle.
From: LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS by George Catlin, first published 1844, letter no. 26

Tobacco, Oglala:

The next who sat to me was Tehan-dee, Tobacco, a desperate warrior, and represented to me by the traders, as one of the most respectable and famous chiefs of the tribe. After him sat Toh-ki-ee-to, (The Stone With Horns), Chief of the Yank-ton band, and reputed the principal and most eloquent orator of the nation. The neck, and breast, and shoulders of this man, were curiously tattooed, by pricking in gunpowder and vermilion, which in this extraordinary instance, was put on in such elaborate profusion as to appear at a little distance like a beautifully embroidered dress. In his hand he held a handsome pipe, the stem of which was several feet long, and all the way wound with ornamented braids of the porcupine quills. Around his body was wrapped a valued robe, made of the skin of the grizzly bear, and on his neck several strings of wampum, an ornament seldom seen amongst the Indians in the Far West and the North. I was much amused with the excessive vanity and egotism of this notorious man, who, whilst sitting for his picture, took occasion to have the interpreter constantly explaining to me the wonderful effects which his oratory had at different times produced on the minds of the chiefs and people of his tribe.
He told me, that it was a very easy thing for him to set all the women of the tribe to crying: and that all the chief listened profoundly to his voice before they went to war; and at last, summed up by saying, that he was "the greatest orator in the Sioux nation", by which he undoubtedly meant the greatest in the world.
From: LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS by George Catlin, first published 1844, letter no. 27

Black Rock, Two Kettle:

The first who then stepped forward for his portrait was Ee-ah-sa-pa (The Black Rock) chief of the Nee-caw-wee-gee band, a fall and fine looking man, of six feet or more in stature; in a splendid dress, with his lance in his hand; with his pictured robe thrown gracefully over his shoulders, and his head-dress made of war-eagles' quills and ermine skins, falling in a beautiful crest over his back, quite down to his feet, and surmounted on the top with a pair of horns denoting him (as I have explained in former instances) head leader or war-chief of his band.
This man has been a constant and faithful friend of Mr. McKenzie and others of the Fur Traders, who held him in high estimation, both as an honourable and valiant man, and an estimable companion.
From: LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS by George Catlin, first published 1844, letter no. 27

[Henri]

Dietmar, which one is Elk Head?? If you look at the images you posted, number 78 & 80 are the same person...different names.
Henri

[Dietmar]

Henri,

it´s either Elk Head or Grizzly Bear That Runs Without Regard, that´s how I saw the portrait designated on another internet page, so I can´t say what´s correct. Kingsley´s point makes sense though.

Best wishes

Dietmar