Ong Pa Ton Ga: Chief Of The Omahas
Philadelphia: F.W. Greenough, 1838.
Portrait. Lithograph with original hand coloring. Page measures 19 x 13.75".
Beautiful portrait from the folio edition of McKenney and Hall's "History of the Indian Tribes of North America". As Superintendent of the Indian Trade Bureau, Thomas McKenney wanted to document the rapidly disappearing culture of the American natives. He activated the project, sponsored by the War Department, by commissioning writer James Hall and Charles Bird King, a renowned American portraitist. King painted the prominent Indians while they visited Washington D.C. as treaty delegates. Most of the original oil paintings were destroyed by fire in the Smithsonian Museum in 1865. These lithographs, published 1842-58, are all that remain and are still hailed as one of the best visual records of influential Native Americans of the nineteenth century. Ong Pa Ton Ga is remembered for his poignant words at the funeral of an elderly Sioux chief in 1815. This funeral, which showed great respect to the Sioux, had been arranged by General William Clark, the Indian superintendent from St. Louis. Light overall toning and offsetting. Chip to lower left corner. Slight tape residue along top and bottom edges. One of many Native American portraits in our collection.
Illustrator: J.T. Bowen
Binding: Unbound
Condition: Very Good
Language: English
Price: $450.00
Item #213653