Wa-Kawn, A Winnebago Chief.
Philadelphia: J.T. Bowen, 1841.
Portrait. Lithograph with original hand coloring. Page measures 20.25" x 14.25". Chip to top edge and right corners. Small tears to edges and faded from the sun.
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. Wa-Kawn, first a follower of Tecumseh, later made many accommodations with the white man but died from alcohol consumption. His widow became an anti alcohol activist.
Illustrator: J.T. Bowen
Binding: Unbound
Condition: Very Good
Language: English
Price: $500.00
Item #213764