Hee-láh-dee, Pure Fountain, Wife of The Smoke

George Catlin, Hee-láh-dee, Pure Fountain, Wife of The Smoke, 1832, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.96
George Catlin, Hee-láh-dee, Pure Fountain, Wife of The Smoke, 1832, oil on canvas, 2924 in. (73.760.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.96
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Hee-láh-dee, Pure Fountain, Wife of The Smoke
Date
1832
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
2924 in. (73.760.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Indian — Ponca
  • Portrait female — Pure Fountain
Object Number
1985.66.96

Artwork Description

George Catlin described Pure Fountain as a “young and very pretty woman . . . her neck and arms were curiously tattooed, which is a very frequent mode of ornamenting the body amongst this and some other tribes . . . done by pricking into the skin, gunpowder and vermilion.” He painted Pure Fountain at a Ponca village in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes , vol. 1, no. 26, 1841; reprint 1973)

Works by this artist (2 items)

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, State Names, 2000, oil, collage and mixed media on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elizabeth Ann Dugan and museum purchase, 2004.28
State Names
Date2000
oil, collage and mixed media on canvas
Not on view
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Untitled, from the portfolio Indian Self-Rule, 1983, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Institute of the American West, 1984.78.3, © Jaune Quick-To-See Smith
Untitled, from the portfolio Indian Self-Rule
Date1983
color lithograph on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 1985.66.404 - SAAM-1985.66.404_1 - 9039
Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists
October 11, 2019March 13, 2020
Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists examines representations of buffalo and their integration into the lives of Native Americans on the Great Plains in the 1830s and in the twentieth century.

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