Kots-o-kó-ro-kó, Hair of the Bull’s Neck, a Chief

George Catlin, Kots-o-kó-ro-kó, Hair of the Bull's Neck, a Chief, 1834, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.49
Copied George Catlin, Kots-o-kó-ro-kó, Hair of the Bull's Neck, a Chief, 1834, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.49
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Artwork Details

Title
Kots-o-kó-ro-kó, Hair of the Bull’s Neck, a Chief
Artist
Date
1834
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
  • Indian — Comanche
  • Portrait male — Hair of the Bull’s Neck
Object Number
1985.66.49
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.49

Artwork Description

George Catlin met Hair of the Bull’s Neck, a chief of the Comanche tribe, during his travels west in 1834. The Comanche village, he later wrote, “is composed of six or eight hundred skin-covered lodges, made of poles and buffalo skins, in the manner precisely as those of the Sioux and other Missouri tribes . . . This village with its thousands of wild inmates, with horses and dogs, and wild sports and domestic occupations, presents a most curious scene; and the manners and looks of the people, a rich subject for the brush and the pen.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 42, 1841; reprint 1973)