Is-sa-wáh-tám-ah, Wolf Tied with Hair, a Chief

About this artwork

George Catlin described the subject as holding a “pipe in his hand,” and went on to detail the intricate ritual of pipe-smoking among Native Americans: “As smoking is a luxury so highly valued by the Indians, they have bestowed much pains, and not a little ingenuity, to the construction of their pipes. Of these I have procured a collection of several hundreds, and have given facsimile outlines of a number of the most curious. The bowls of these are generally made of the red steatite, or ‘pipe-st...

Art Historical Context

**Is-sa-wáh-tám-ah, Wolf Tied with, a Chief** (1834) is a compelling portrait by George Catlin the pioneering 19th-century American artist dedicated to documenting Native American cultures. Painted on-site at a Comanche during Catlin's extensive travels across the Great Plains, this oil painting captures the dignified presence of a Comanche chief, embodying the artist's mission to record indigenous life before rapid Western expansion altered it forever. Central to the portrait is the chief's pipe, a symbol of profound cultural ritual. Catlin, fascinated by Native American customs, noted the "...

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 ...