Coo-coo-coo, The Owl, an Aged Chief

About this artwork

George Catlin described Menominee chief Coo-coo-coo as a “very aged and emaciated chief, whom I painted at Green Bay, in Fort Howard. He had been a distinguished man, but now in his dotage, being more than 100 years old---and a great pet of the surgeon and officers of the post.” This portrait was painted in 1836 when Catlin stopped at Green Bay on his way to the Pipestone Quarry. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)

Art Historical Context

In 1836, renowned artist George Catlin captured the dignified visage of Coo-coo-coo, known as "The Owl," an elderly Menominee chief, in this poignant oil portrait now housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Catlin, a pioneering chronicler of Native American life, painted the chief during a stop at Fort Howard in Green Bay, Wisconsin, route to the sacred Pipestone Quarry. At over 100 years old Coo-coo-coo embodied resilience amid the rapid changes of frontier America. Catlin himself described the chief as " aged and emaciated a once-distinguished leader now in his dotage and affectionat...

About the Artist

George Catlin · 1796–1872

George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...