Naugh-háigh-hee-kaw, He Who Moistens the Wood

About this artwork

Before George Catlin began his extensive travels in the West, he spent time in eastern cities, where he often saw visiting delegations of Native Americans and painted their portraits. Nine members of a Winnebago delegation, including He Who Breaks the Bushes and He Who Moistens the Wood, sat for him in Washington, D.C., in 1828. Three years later, also in the capital, the artist painted Menominee and Seneca delegations, including a portrait of the Menominee Másh-kee-wet, whom the artist called ...

Art Historical Context

In 1828, George Catlin painted *Naugh-háigh-hee-kaw, He Who Moistens the Wood*, striking portrait of a Winneb (Ho-Chunk) leader Washington, D.C. as part of a delegation At this early stage in his career, Catlin was a portrait painter in eastern cities, capturing the likenesses of Native Americanitaries who traveled east for treaty negotiations and diplomatic meetings. This work is one of nine portraits from that Winnebago group, showcasing the subject in traditional attire that Catlin later described as "arrayed and equipped in all their classic beauty... exactly for the painter’s palette." T...

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 ...