Massica, Sauk Man
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Artist
Karl BodmerBirth and death dates
1809 - 1893Artist Nationality
SwissTitle
Massica, Sauk ManDate
March 28, 1833Dimensions
12 × 8 1/2 in. (30.5 × 21.6 cm)Medium
Watercolor and graphite on paperInstitution
Joslyn Art MuseumCredit Line
Gift of the Enron Art FoundationAccession Number
1986.49.235Rights (i.e. copyright information)
Joslyn Art MuseumPhotographer credit
Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019Commentary
Massica ("Turtle") was one of several Sauk and Meskwaki who came to St. Louis in March of 1833 to plead for the release of Black Hawk, a chief who had been imprisoned after an 1832 uprising. These were the first Indians encountered by Maximilian, and he studied them with great interest, noting that the men shaved their heads, leaving only a short tuft and a long, thin braid. To this they often attached a crest-like ornament called a roach made of stiff deer hair. Today both the hair style and the ornament are commonly called a roach. Massica is pictured in Tableau 3 of the aquatints. Maximilian evidently intended him to be depicted exactly as shown here. Instead, in the published aquatint he appears with an ornamental roach obscuring his hair, but wearing the same strings of shell beads on his ear, the same blanket, and the same bold face paint as in this watercolor. The inscription at the lower left gives Massica's name, its meaning, his tribe, and the date and place of his portrait.
References in Journal
March 28, 1833Approximate Depicted Location:
St. Louis, Missouri