Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe

George Catlin, Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe, 1832, oil on canvas, 2924 in. (73.760.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.149
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe
Date
1832
Dimensions
2924 in. (73.760.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Subjects
  • Object — other — smoking material
  • Portrait male — Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat — bust
  • Indian — Blackfoot
  • Dress — Indian dress
Object Number
1985.66.149

Artwork Description

This magnificent portrait was painted at Fort Union “from the free and vivid realities of life” rather than “the haggard deformities and distortions of disease and death” that George Catlin noted among frontier Indians. Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat (named after a prized cut of bison) was a chief of the Blackfoot, a tribe of the northernmost Plains whose territory straddled the present-day border between the United States and Canada. Catlin considered the people of the northern Plains the least corrupted by white contact, and he helped establish their image as nature’s noble people in Europe as well as America. This commanding portrait, for example, was exhibited to favorable notice in the Paris Salon of 1846. (Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 2002)

Works by this artist (1 item)

Janet Echelman, 1.8 Renwick, 2015, knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2017.7, © 2015, Janet Echelman
1.8 Renwick
Date2015
knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring
On view

Related Books

catlin_500.jpg
George Catlin and His Indian Gallery
The year was 1830, and the American West was entering a phase of rapid transformation. Passage of the Indian Removal Act commenced the twelve-year migration of American Indians from lands east of the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, settlers and traders in the Great Plains brought sweeping changes to those Native American cultures.

More Artworks from the Collection

Quipu Viscera
Date2017, version 2024
site-specific installation of dyed and unspun wool
Not on view
Miguel Luciano, Double Phantom/EntroP.R., 2017, 1952 Schwinn Phantom bicycles, flags, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Marianna and Juan A. Sabater, 2020.25.1, © 2017, Miguel Luciano. photo: Jason Wyche
Double Phantom/EntroP.R.
Date2017
1952 Schwinn Phantom bicycles, flags
On view
Miguel Luciano, Pa-lan-te, 2017, neon, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Marianna and Juan A. Sabater, 2020.25.2, © 2017, Miguel Luciano. photo: Jason Wyche
Pa-lan-te
Date2017
neon
On view