Hee-oh'ks-te-kin, Rabbit's Skin Leggings
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
George Catlin probably painted this portrait of Hee-oh’ks-te-kin in St. Louis, or aboard the steamboat Yellowstone, in 1832. The dignified bearing of the young men and the attention to detail in the elaborately beaded tunics and beaded and feathered hair reflect Catlin’s regard for his subjects. Native Americans, he wrote, were “the finest models in all Nature, unmasked and moving in all their grace and beauty.” Catlin's faithful effort to document the life of these peoples in the early nineteenth century captures those impressive cultures as they were before their world was shattered. (Catlin’s Indian Gallery, SAAM online exhibition; Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSimilar works
Mix-ke-móte-skin-na, Iron Horn, a Warrior
Eeh-tow-wées-ka-zeet, He Who Has Eyes Behind Him (also known as Broken Arm), a Foremost Brave
Pa-ris-ka-roó-pa, Two Crows, a Chief
Wúk-mi-ser, Corn, a Miniconjou Warrior
Tchán-dee, Tobacco, an Oglala Chief
Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe