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
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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 (4 items)

Frank E. Cummings III, Ode to Today, 1993, ebony, 18k gold, pearls, and imperial topaz, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery (1995--2003), 2003.60.7A-C
Ode to Today
Date1993
ebony, 18k gold, pearls, and imperial topaz
Not on view
Frank E. Cummings III, On the Edge Naturally, 1990, kingwood burl, 18k gold, and mother-of-pearl, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler, 2002.66A-B
On the Edge Naturally
Date1990
kingwood burl, 18k gold, and mother-of-pearl
Not on view
Frank E. Cummings III, Lady Lace with New Shoes, 1989, black walnut, ivory, gold and onyx, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George Peter Lamb and Lucy Scardino in memory of Natalie Rust Lamb, 1995.100.4
Lady Lace with New Shoes
Date1989
black walnut, ivory, gold and onyx
Not on view
Carousel: Age of Awareness
Date1994
walnut, ebony, black onyx, 18K gold, pearl rubellite
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.