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, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 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
Artist
Date
1832
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
  • Portrait female — Pure Fountain
  • Indian — Ponca
Object Number
1985.66.96
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/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 (164 items)

View all artworks
Hiram Powers, Hope, modeled 1869, plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.73
Hope
Artist
Datemodeled 1869
plaster
On view
Hiram Powers, Portrait of a Girl, n.d., plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.57
Portrait of a Girl
Artist
Daten.d.
plaster
On view
Hiram Powers, Clytie, modeled ca. 1867, plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.50
Clytie
Artist
Datemodeled ca. 1867
plaster
On view
Hiram Powers, The Infant Nero, modeled 1843, plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.92
The Infant Nero
Artist
Datemodeled 1843
plaster
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, 2019–March 13, 2020
Smithsonian American Art Museum
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.