Wife of The Six

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1832

This woman was “Not the most agreeable” of the Six's several wives, according to George Catlin. The artist made few compromises in representing the blunt, heavy features and powerful contours of this woman's head. Such studies among the more civilized eastern tribes, whom he painted three or four years later, are rare. Catlin executed this work at Fort Union in the upper Midwest in 1832. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)