Smithsonian American Art Museum
Sky-se-ró-ka, Second Chief of the Tribe
George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1834
In 1834, George Catlin accompanied a regiment of United States Dragoons to visit the territory of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Wichita. While at a Comanche village, he met Wichita chief Sky-se-ró-ka, whom he described as “a fine-looking and remarkably shrewd and intelligent man.” The sensitive modeling of Sky-se-ró-ka's features compares favorably to Catlin's best work on the dragoon expedition. (Catlin, 1848 Catalogue, Catlin’s Indian Gallery, SAAM online exhibition; Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
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