2024.145: Waneta, of the Ihanktonowan Dakota Oyate / Yankton Sioux Tribe of Dakota

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2024.145

People

George Catlin (Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-1872 Jersey City, NJ)

Title

Waneta, of the Ihanktonowan Dakota Oyate / Yankton Sioux Tribe of Dakota

Other Titles

Former Title: [Wan-ee-ton], Chief of the Susseton Band of Sioux
Former Title: Wan-ee-ton
Former Title: Wan-ee-ton, Indian chief
Former Title: Waanatan I

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

1868

Culture

American

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/332957

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Oil on paper

Dimensions

41.9 × 29.8 cm (16 1/2 × 11 3/4 in.)
frame: 58.9 × 47.2 × 9.9 cm (23 3/16 × 18 9/16 × 3 7/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: verso, top center: Wan=ee=ton. Chief of the Susseton Band / of Sioux. A very distinguished man / Geo. Catlin p. 1868 [Wan=ee=ton is underlined]
• plaque: bottom center, metal plate: Wan-ee-ton / (Sioux) / 1796 George Catlin.-1872
• label: verso, top center, cream sticker: 45B:1:R
• label: verso, top center, cream sticker: 3A
• label: verso, bottom center, white paper: GLAZING ON THIS PAINTING IS / ANTI STATIC, ANTI-REFLECTIVE OPTIUM ACRYLIC--- / CLEANING: NO AMMONIA-BASED CLEANERS / USE THE PURPLE SOLUTION OF SPARKLE / (in conservation department) / (rear protective backing is Vivak)
• inscription: verso, bottom center, black ink: 41-72/63
• inscription: verso, bottom right edge of frame, black ink : 41-72/63

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Probably the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [1] to David I. Bushnell, Jr. in exchange for a wampum necklace and a wristlet, August 1918; to his mother, Belle J. Bushnell; her bequest to Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1946 (added to accession 41-72), transferred; to Harvard Art Museums, 2024

Notes
[1] The works were in Catlin's studio/living quarters at the Smithsonian Institution (in the turret of the "Castle" building) at the time of his death. As his wife and several children predeceased him, and because the Smithsonian had the works on hand when several years later, the family that held the contents of his original "Indian Gallery" gifted those to create the definitive Catlin collection, and there is no record of a sale, probated will, transfer, or auction between the family and the Smithsonian, it seems most likely the Smithsonian claimed his studio contents as its property. 

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Transfer from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, gift of the Estate of Belle J. Bushnell, 1946

Accession Year

2024

Object Number

2024.145

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• Kenyon Castle Bolton, III, "Relocation and Evaluation of the Bushnell Collection of Paintings and Other Works by Early American Artists at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology" (unpublished manuscript, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 1971)., 3, 10, 17, 38, no. 63
• Kenyon Castle Bolton, III, Peter G. Huenink, Earl A. Powell III, Harry Z. Rand, and Nanette C. Sexton, American Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), cat. 48, ill.
• Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, Harvard Art Museums (May 1972), vol. 9, no. 4, n.p.
• G. Verona Taylor Whatmough, "The Bushnell Collection of Paintings and Other Works by Early American Artists" (unpublished manuscript, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 1973)., p. 9, no. 63
• Mead Art Museum, Cowboys, Indians, Trappers and Traders, exh. cat. (Amherst, MA, 1973), ill.
• Halina Nelken, Humboldtiana at Harvard, exh. cat., Harvard University Library, Widener Library (Cambridge, MA, 1976), pp. 86-88, cat. 75, pl. 30
• Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. and Melissa Renn, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born before 1826, Yale University Press (U.S.) and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge and New Haven, 2014), pp. 30, 120, 121, cat. 73, ill.

Exhibition History

• American Art at Harvard, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/19/1972 - 06/18/1972
• Cowboys, Indians, Trappers & Traders, Amherst College, Amherst, 02/01/1973 - 02/28/1973
• Humboldtiana at Harvard, Harvard University Library, Widener Library, Cambridge, 03/22/1976 - 05/02/1976

Verification Level