Hee-oh'ks-te-kin, Rabbit's Skin Leggings

About this artwork

George Catlin probably painted this portrait of Hee-oh’ks-te-kin in St. Louis, or aboard the steamboat Yellowstone, in 1832. The dignified bearing of the young men and the attention to detail in the elaborately beaded tunics and beaded and feathered hair reflect Catlin’s regard for his subjects. Native Americans, he wrote, were “the finest models in all Nature, unmasked and moving in all their grace and beauty.” Catlin's faithful effort to document the life of these peoples in the early ...

Art Historical Context

George Catlin's *Hee-oh’ks-te-kin, Rabbit's Skingings* (1832) captures the poised likeness of a young Nez Perce, likely painted in St. Louis or aboard the steat *Yellowstone* during Catlin's pioneering travels up the Missouri River. As key figure in 19th-century American art,lin dedicated himself to documenting Native American through hundreds of portraits, viewing his subjects as "the finest in all Nature, un and moving in all their grace and beauty." This oil painting exemplifies his commitment to ethnographic accuracy amid rapid cultural upheaval. The bust-length portrait highlights Hee-oh...

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 ...