Ka-Ta-Wa-Be-Da, a Chippeway Chief

Description

J.T. BOWEN: Color Lithograph - Katawabeda

This beautifully hand coloured original antique folio lithograph print of KA-TA-WA-BE-DA (Katawabeda) of the … more J.T. BOWEN: Color Lithograph - Katawabeda

This beautifully hand coloured original antique folio lithograph print of KA-TA-WA-BE-DA (Katawabeda) of the Chippeway Tribe was engraved and hand coloured in 1841 - the date is engraved at the foot of the print - by J.T. Bowen and was published in the folio edition of McKenny-Hall`s History of the Indian Tribes of North America published between 1837 and 1844

McKenney and Hall's Indian Tribes of North America has long been renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans. The portrait plate is based on paintings by the artist Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War Department to paint the Indian delegates visiting Washington D.C., forming the basis of the War Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original paintings were subsequently destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian, and their appearance in McKenney and Hall's magnificent work is thus our only record of the likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the nineteenth century. Numbered among King's sitters were Sequoyah, Red Jacket, Major Ridge, Cornplanter, and Osceola.

As first director, McKenney was to improve the administration of Indian programs in various government offices. His first trip was during the summer of 1826 to the Lake Superior area for a treaty with the Chippewa, opening mineral rights on their land. In 1827, he journeyed west again for a treaty with the Chippewa, Menominee, and Winebago in the present state of Michigan. His journeys provided an unparalleled opportunity to become acquainted with Native American tribes. When President Jackson dismissed him from his government post in 1839, McKenney was able to turn more of his attention to his publishing project. less