Cha-co-to, a Pottawatomine

Art Historical Context

**Cha-co-to, a Pottawatomine** by James Otto Lewis is a bust portrait print from the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection. This graphic arts work captures the poised visage of Cha-co-to, a member of the Potawat people, one of the Great Lakes region's prominent Indigenous nations. As a print medium, it exemplifies early 19th-century techniques allowed for reproducible imagery, making such portraits accessible beyond elite circles. James Otto Lewis, active in the frontier era, specialized in documenting Native American subjects amid rapid U.S. territorial expansion and treaty negotiations...