Wáh-pa-ko-lás-kuk, Bear’s Track

George Catlin, Wáh-pa-ko-lás-kuk, Bear's Track, 1835, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.16
Copied George Catlin, Wáh-pa-ko-lás-kuk, Bear's Track, 1835, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.16
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Wáh-pa-ko-lás-kuk, Bear’s Track
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
  • Indian — Sauk and Fox
  • Portrait male — Bear’s Track
Object Number
1985.66.16
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.16

Artwork Description

“I have visited forty-eight different tribes, the greater part of which I found speaking different languages, and containing in all 400,000 souls. I have brought home safe, and in good order, 310 portraits in oil, all painted in their native dress, and in their own wigwams . . . as well as a very extensive and curious collection of their costumes, and all their other manufactures, from the size of a wigwam down to the size of a quill or a rattle.” George Catlin probably painted this work at a Sac and Fox village in 1835. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 1, 1841; reprint 1973)