Káw-kaw-ne-chóo-a, a Brave
1828
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Accession Number
1985.66.210
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin described this Brave, along with the Snake (see 1985.66.213), as “fair specimens of the [Winnebago] tribe, who are generally a rather short and thick-set, square shouldered set of men.” The artist probably painted the two portraits in Washington, D.C., in the autumn of 1828. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
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 ...