Jee-hé-o-hó-shah, Cannot Be Thrown Down, a Warrior
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Jee-hé-o-hó-shah, Cannot Be Thrown Down, a Warrior

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

oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum
CC0 — Public Domain
Smithsonian American Art Museum

“Amongst those tribes who thus shave and ornament their heads, the crest is uniformly blood-red; and the upper part of the head, and generally a considerable part of the face, as red as they can possibly make it with vermilion. I found these people cutting off the hair with small scissors, which they purchase of the Fur Traders; and they told me that previous to getting scissors, they cut it away with their knives; and before they got knives, they were in the habit of burning it off with red-hot stones, which was a very slow and painful operation.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 34, 1841; reprint 1973)

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