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McKenney & Hall"Yellow Thunder" Chippewa Chief Lithograph Portrait by McKenney & Hall
About the Item
“O-hya-wa-mince-kee. A Chippewa Chief.” [Yellow Thunder.] From McKenney & Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America. Philadelphia: Rice & Clark, 1843. Folio: image ca. 15 x 12. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
The McKenney & Hall lithographs of Native Americans
The McKenney & Hall prints of Native Americans, from their History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1837-1844), document an important part of American history, illustrating the great leaders of the Indian nations which have disappeared since the mid-nineteenth century. Thomas McKenney, head of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs for many years, was a champion of the Indian and fought throughout his tenure to preserve something of their culture, so integral a part of the history of the United States. His legacy was a gallery of portraits of the great chiefs by artists such as James Otto Lewis, Charles Bird King and George Cooke.
McKenney took office in 1816 and shortly thereafter began to plan an archive which would house Indian memorabilia. In the winter of 1821-22 a large delegation of Indians comprising Pawnee, Sauk, Fox, Menominee, Miami, Sioux, and Chippewa came to Washington to see President Monroe. McKenney took advantage of this opportune time to record their likenesses by commissioning Lewis and King. More paintings were added to these over the years resulting in an impressive gallery of Indian portraiture. In 1830, McKenney was dismissed by President Jackson and at this time began to plan for the publication of a portfolio of prints of these portraits.
The results of years of struggle, McKenney’s folio was completed 6 years later, the plates for the first edition being first published in 1832. The folio was a collaborative effort, the text written by James Hall based on information which McKenney supplied. The magnitude of the project was overwhelming. McKenney battled poverty, politics, and printers to achieve his goal. Although he was acutely aware that he was preserving a chapter in history, he could not have known that had he not undertaken this project that no record at all would remain for in 1865 a fire at the Smithsonian destroyed almost all the original paintings from which the lithographs were drawn. Photography provided a record of the post-Civil War frontier but for the pre-Civil War period we have the artists and the visionaries, such as McKenney, who captured the brilliance of Indian culture in that brief period in history before much of it was forever lost.
The prints were issued first in a folio size (images ca. 18 x 12 inches). The print were published by subscription, in fascicles, and then in volumes. 121 prints were made, which included 3 frontispiece prints and 118 portraits (one of the portraits was never published in the completed volumes). The work was magnificent, but expensive, so a smaller, octavo edition (images ca. 10 x 6) was issued. All the prints are hand-colored lithographs and the form one of the most important bodies of Native American images ever published.
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- Dimensions:Height: 15 in (38.1 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
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- Gallery Location:Hallowell, ME
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McKenney & Hall
Col. Thomas J. McKenney was Superintendant of The Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1816 until 1830. He was one of a very few government officials to defend American Indian interests and attempt to preserve their culture. He travelled to Indian lands meeting the Native American leaders. He brought with him an accomplished artist, James Otto Lewis, who sketched those willing to participate. A large number of the most influential Indian chiefs and warriors were later invited to come to Washington in 1821 to meet President Monroe. McKenney commissioned the prominent portrait painter Charles Bird King, who had a studio in the capital, to paint these native American leaders, who chose the costumes they wished to wear for the sitting. The magnificent resultant paintings were displayed in the War Department until 1858, and were then moved to the Smithsonian Institute. When Andrew Jackson dismissed McKenney in 1830, he gave him permission to have the King portraits as well as some by other artists, including George Catlin and James Otto Lewis, copied and made into lithographs, in both folio and octavo sizes. McKenney partnered with James C. Hall, a Cincinnati judge and novelist to publish the lithographs and the text written by Hall. The work was extremely expensive to create and nearly bankrupted McKenney, as well as the two printing firms who invested in its publication. The resultant work gained importance when Catlin's paintings were destroyed in a warehouse fire and Charles Bird King's and James Otto Lewis’ portraits were destroyed in the great Smithsonian Museum fire of 1865. The McKenney and Hall portraits remain the most complete and colorful record of these pre-Civil War Native American leaders.
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