Mah-to-toh-pa, the Mandan Chief
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
1985.66.386,593CC
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Mah-to-toh-pa, the Mandan Chief** by George Catlin captures the dignified presence of a prominent Mandan leader in a striking full-length portrait. Rendered as a graphic arts print, this work reproduces Catlin's signature realistic style, likely derived from his original oil paintings created during his travels among Native American tribes in the early 19th century. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds this piece, transferred from the National Museum of Natural History's ethnology collection, underscoring its value as both art and historical document. George Catlin, a pioneering Americ...
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 ...