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The Creation Of The National Indian Portrait Gallery
By the time Charles Bird King began his series of portraits of great Indian chiefs in 1821, the tribes of the Atlantic Coast Region were already regarded as a rapidly dying people. It had occurred to some people that it would be of historic value to preserve the likenesses of the numerous chiefs who came to Washington to negotiate with the government. It apparently also occurred to some members of the government that the creation of an Indian portrait gallery might have a diplomatic use akin to the awarding of peace medals to distinguished chiefs.
In 1821, a delegation of sixteen Indians from villages of the" Kansa, Oto, Missouri, Omaha and Pawnee tribes was brought to Washington to meet the 'Great Father' (President James Monroe). The trip was organized by Benjamin OTallon, Indian Agent for the Missouri River tribes, and its main purpose seems to have been to promote good will and to impress the Indian visitors with the wealth and power of the Federal Government. It was probably Thomas L. McKenney, Superintendent of Indian Trade from 1816 to 1822, who induced King to paint his first Indian portraits at this time. Several individual figures and one group portrait were purchased by McKenney for his office in the War Department. (The government's Indian trade office had been created to prevent abuse and cheating of the Indians which tended to cause trouble on the frontier, but its work was not successful and powerful private interests prevailed upon Congress to abolish it completely in 1822.) Later, as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1824-30, McKenney advanced the idea of a National Indian Portrait Gallery, and in the years 1824-37 King continued to paint portraits of visiting Indian delegates to Washington.
In the Smithsonian Institution report for 1953, p. 466, John C. Ewers commented:
"Many of those Indians were chiefs of prominence in the regional history of our country. Others, such as Keokuk, Black-Hawk, and Red Jacket gained national prominence and were painted by white artists other than King during their lives. Of outstanding historical significance is King's portrait of Pushmataha (see lot 7) the great Choctaw leader and consistent friend of the Whites."
In 1858 the Indian Gallery, comprising 147 works, mostly by King, was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, and installed together with a group of about 200 paintings by John Mix Stanley.
On January 15, 1865, a fire destroyed all but a few works in the treasured national collection.
Sources:
Rosen, Marc. The Redwood Library Collection: North American Indian Portraits. Tri-Arts Press, New York, 1970.
Richard J. Boyle, American Paintings from Newport, from the Redwood Library and Other Collections (exhibition catalogue), 1969.
John C. Ewers, Charles Bird King, Painter of Indian Visitors to the Nation's Capital, Washington, 1954 (reprinted from The Smithsonian Report, 1953, pp. 463-473).
Fredrick W. Hodge, "The Origin and Destruction of a National Indian Portrait Gallery," Holmes Anniversary Volume, Washington, 1916.
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