See-non-ty-a, an Iowa Medicine Man

1844/1845

George Catlin

Artist, American, 1796 - 1872

Shown from the chest up, a man with brown skin wears indigenous Iowa attire and looks just off to our left with heavy-lidded eyes in this vertical portrait painting. He faces us against a background mottled with pale turquoise and cream white. The sides of the man’s square face, the top of his bald head, and his neck are painted a bright orange-red. His ears, lips, and eyelids are also red. Deep lines run across his forehead and down under high cheekbones, to either side of his nose and his closed mouth. His spiky headdress fans like a fountain from around a small cap at the center of the top of his head. Beaded earrings hang from the lobes and tops of his ears. More than a dozen necklaces, perhaps of quills, hang beneath two shorter chokers, one with a wide oval shell over a round shell or medallion. Green stripes on his bare shoulders and chest create a shallow V over his chest, and there is a red hand print on his upper right arm, to our left. His torso and one shoulder are wrapped with vibrant red cloth.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Paul Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 71 × 58 cm (27 15/16 × 22 13/16 in.)
    framed: 86.04 × 73.03 × 5.72 cm (33 7/8 × 28 3/4 × 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1965.16.346

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1965

  • Three Centuries of American Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965.

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965-1966 (loan to Three Centuries exhibition was extended).

1972

  • The American West: Painters from Catlin to Russell, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; The St. Louis Art Museum, 1972, no. 20.

1980

  • American Indian Life: Paintings by George Catlin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980.

1981

  • The Art of Healing: Medicin and Science in American Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1981, repro.

1985

  • George Catlin: Pioneer Painter of the North American Indian, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1985-1986.

2020

  • Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, 2020-2021, no.73, repro.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 27, repro. 23.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 101, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 79, color repro. 91.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 88, repro.

2002

  • Gurney, George, and Therese Thau Heyman, eds. George Catlin and His Indian Gallery. Exh. cat. Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2002-2003. Washington, 2002: 73, 74 fig. 13.

Wikidata ID

Q20187162

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