Wée-ke-rú-law, He Who Exchanges

About this artwork

This portrait reflects George Catlin’s respect for the Native Americans who posed for him. He Who Exchanges looked directly at Catlin while the painter worked to capture his likeness. The figure’s pose reflects the symbolic importance of the effigy pipe he holds in his hand. Catlin had been given a similar pipe by a Pawnee, who explained that the seated figure on the pipe was his own portrait and that it would enable him to look a white man in the face. (Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catli...

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 ...