Mee-chéet-e-neuh, Wounded Bear's Shoulder, Wife of the Chief
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
1985.66.219
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin probably painted this woman in Washington, D.C. in1831, when Menominee chief Grizzly Bear, his wife Wounded Bear’s Shoulder, and thirteen members of his tribe visited the capital to negotiate the sale of a portion of their tribal lands. (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 ...