Me-sóu-wahk, Deer’s Hair, Favorite Son of Kee-o-kúk

George Catlin, Me-sóu-wahk, Deer's Hair, Favorite Son of Kee-o-kúk, 1835, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.6
Copied 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
  • Dress — Indian dress
  • Dress — accessory — jewelry
  • Indian — Sauk and Fox
  • Portrait male — Deer’s Hair — full length
  • Object — weapon — bow and arrow
Object Number
1985.66.6
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/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)