Kee-mo-rá-nia, No English, a Dandy
1830
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
1985.66.253
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin probably painted this portrait of No English, a member of the Peoria tribe, at Fort Leavenworth (in today’s Kansas) in 1830, the same year he took portraits of the Delaware, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, and other tribes. Catlin’s efforts from 1830 are generally considered his first attempts at Indian portraits in the West. He described No English as “a beau; his face curiously painted, and looking-glass in his hand.” (Catlin, 1848 Catalogue, Catlin’s Indian Gallery, SAAM online exhibition;...
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 ...