George Catlin

Captain William Henry Shippard, England (acquired directly from the artist circa 1840s)

Private Collection (acquired from the above by descent)

Forum Auctions, London, 28 March 2019, lot 337

Acquired from the above by the present owner

George Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin's Indian Gallery, London 1840, no. 110

La-wáh-he-coots-la-sháw-no, also known as Brave Chief, was a distinguished leader of the Skidi "Wolf" band of the Pawnee Nation. The Pawnee people inhabited the area along the Platte River in Nebraska, a region that is well documented in George Catlin's subjects from the mid-nineteenth century. Catlin's first recorded encounter with Brave Chief occurred in 1832. In letters following the encounter, he described La-wáh-he-coots-la-sháw-no (Brave Chief) as having "impressions of hands painted on his breast," as see in the present drawing and other oils of the leader from the period (George Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. II, no. 34, 1841, as quoted in William H. Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979).