George Catlin, Me-sóu-wahk, Deer's Hair, Favorite Son of Kee-o-kúk, 1835, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.6
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Me-sóu-wahk, Deer’s Hair, Favorite Son of Kee-o-kúk
- Artist
- Date
- 1835
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — weapon — bow and arrow
- Portrait male — Deer’s Hair — full length
- Indian — Sauk and Fox
- Dress — accessory — jewelry
- Dress — Indian dress
- Object Number
- 1985.66.6
Artwork Description
George Catlin painted Deer’s Hair at a Sac and Fox village in 1835. Catlin later described the portrait in his extensive writings Letters and Notes: “I have made a portrait of the wife of Kee-o-kuk, and of his favourite son, whom he intends to be his successor. These portraits are both painted, also, in the costume tunics precisely in which they were dressed.” Deer’s Hair succeeded his father as chief of the Sac and Fox in 1848. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 56, 1841; reprint 1973; Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
