"A Chippewa Widow" by Charles Bird King

"A Chippewa Widow" by Charles Bird King

C.1986

Colored Lithograph

Depicting a poignant tribal custom, this nineteenth-century hand-colored lithograph titled "A Chippewa Widow" is based on an original life portrait painted by artist Charles Bird King. The composition portrays an Ojibwe (Chippewa) woman named Ta-Ma-Kake-Toke ("the woman that spoke first") seated in a moment of quiet bereavement. She is dressed in a wide-necked colonial-style blue blouse and a heavy mustard-yellow skirt partitioned by contrasting vertical blue bands. Cradled protectively in her arms is a mourning bundle, which is a traditional surrogate wrapped in a fringed red blanket and topped with white feathers, containing the physical clothing and personal effects of her deceased husband. The portrait is rendered with a mix of fine stippling and warm watercolor washes against a neutral ground, resting above crisp italicized title typography reading "A Chippewa Widow".

This composition belongs to a broader American historical record dating back to the federal treaty eras of the 1820s and 1830s, where Indigenous leaders and tribal delegates were visually documented during diplomatic missions to Washington, D.C.. Published in 1986 as part of a modern commemorative edition of the landmark book History of the Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas Loraine McKenney and James Hall, prints like this hold monumental historical importance because they serve as the primary surviving visual record of these pre-Civil War individuals. The original oil portrait archives, including those by Charles Bird King and the Western galleries of John Mix Stanley, were tragically destroyed in the catastrophic 1865 Smithsonian fire. As a result, these meticulously prepared volume reproductions stand as irreplaceable ethnographic artifacts, documenting traditional attire, customs, and political figures from a critical era of Native American history.

Dimensions: H 11 ¾”x 8 ½”W

Condition: In very good condition