Tukán-Hätón, Yankton Sioux Chief

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Tukán-Hätón, Yankton Sioux Chief

Date

May 27, 1833

Dimensions

10 15/16 × 8 3/4 in. (27.8 × 22.2 cm)

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.259

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Tukán-Hätón ("Horned Rock"), called Little Soldier by the Americans, boarded the Yellow Stone with his family at the Sioux agency on May 27, 1833, intending to travel upriver to Fort Pierre. The family was in mourning, as some of their children had recently died. Tukán-Hätón's head is bound in what appears to be patterned cloth and his hair looks clipped, perhaps shorn off as an expression of sorrow. Probably for the same reason he wears little in the way of ornament other than metal drop earrings. There is no mention in the diaries of this man's elaborate body paint, which could be related to mourning or to his position as a respected chief. A woodcut of this portrait was used by Maximilian in Travels in the Interior of North America as an illustration of typical Sioux physiognomy.

References in Journal

May 27, 1833

Labels:

genre, portrait

Approximate Depicted Location:

Sioux Agency, South Dakota