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Catalog Data

Artist:
George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872  Search this
Sitter:
He Who Ties His Hair Before  Search this
He Who Ties His Hair Before  Search this
Medium:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm)
Type:
Painting
Date:
1832
Luce Center Label:
“I have also secured portraits of . . . fine and fair specimens of this tribe, in both of which are exhibited the extraordinary instances of the natural hair reaching to the ground, peculiarities belonging almost exclusively to this tribe . . . The Crows are generally handsome, and comfortably clad; every man in the nation oils his hair with a profusion of bear's grease, and promotes its growth to the utmost of his ability . . . In a former letter I gave some account of the head peculiar to this tribe, which may well be recorded as a national characteristic . . . This striking peculiarity is quite conspicuous in the two portraits of which I have just spoken, exhibiting fairly, as they are both in profile, the semi-lunar outline of the face . . . The greater part of the men are thus strongly marked with a bold and prominent anti-angular nose, with a clear and rounded arch, and a low and receding forehead.” Eé-hee-a-duck-cée-a sat for his portrait at a Hidatsa village in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 24, 1841; reprint 1973)
Topic:
Dress\Indian dress  Search this
Indian\Crow  Search this
Portrait male  Search this
Portrait male\full length  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Object number:
1985.66.163
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk70eb223d5-a634-4aec-a062-c705947170bc
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_1985.66.163