Mah-kée-mee-teuv, Grizzly Bear, Chief of the Tribe
1831
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
1985.66.218
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin described Grizzly Bear as a dignified chief of the Menominee tribe who “commanded great respect for his eloquence, and . . . deportment.” He painted the chief with “a handsome pipe in his hand, and wampum on his neck,” probably in Washington, D.C., in 1831, when Grizzly Bear and fourteen members of his tribe visited the capital to negotiate the sale of a portion of their tribal lands. This portrait is painted with a flourish and fullness of expression that distinguishes it among th...
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 ...