Shé-de-ah, Wild Sage, a Wichita Woman

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1834

George Catlin probably painted this portrait of Wild Sage at Fort Gibson, in present-day northeastern Oklahoma. Catlin noted that she was one of two young women who had been held prisoner by the Osages, and purchased and returned to her own tribe by the Indian commissioner. “Amongst the women of this tribe [Wichita], there were many that were exceedingly pretty in feature and in form; and also in expression, though their skins are very dark . . . [They] are always decently and comfortably clad, being covered generally with a gown or slip, that reaches from the chin quite down to the ankles, made of deer or elk skins.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 43, 1841; reprint 1973)