ABOUT THIS COLLECTION  
The American portraitist Charles Bird King (1785-1862) was commissioned by Thomas McKenney, U.S. superintendent of Indian trade, to paint a series of portraits of Indian leaders who visited Washington, D.C. He painted more than 140 between 1821 and 1842.  In the early 1830s, McKenney also brought in the painter Henry Inman to make copies of many of King’s portraits, which served as the models for the spectacular lithographs published in the three-volume classic, “History of the Indian Tribes of North America” (1837), by McKenney and James Hall. Sixteen of those lithographs form the collection seen here. At the time, it was the most elaborate illustrated book ever produced in the U.S. Those reproductions saved the work for posterity. In 1865, a fire in the Smithsonian Institution destroyed all but a few of King’s portraits along with work by John Mix Stanley—a combined collection of 291 pre-Civil War Indian paintings were lost.
 
COLLECTION DETAILS
Series title: Chiefs of the Indian Tribes of North America
Series size: 16 artworks
Edition: Limited edition of 1000
Proof of Ownership: Certification on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC1155 protocol. Each artwork is delivered privately and directly to collectors as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that guarantee proof of ownership.
Format: Pieces consist of PNG files sized 2160x3840 pixels - 150 dpi.
Medium: Hand-colored lithograph on paper, still image
Contract Address: 0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e
ID: 2749212597480566...
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Charles Bird King went to New York at the age of 15 to study painting under Edward Savage, and later to London, where he studied for seven years under the great American expatriate artist Benjamin West. Mainly a portraitist, he established a successful studio in Washington, D.C. He painted a number of notable social and political figures, but his biggest commission was a series of Indian portraits. While this was a time of severe oppression against Native Americans, King portrays the Indian leaders as dignified and beautiful, in keeping with the then-fashionable Romantic style that emphasized nature, indigenous customs, and emotion. The social reality was not on the agenda. King also painted well-regarded still-lifes and landscapes.
 
COLLECTION CREDITS
Historical curatorship: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Artwork: Charles Bird King
Year of original publication: 1838
Post-production: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Digital art supervisor: Marie-Lou Desmeules
Editorial: Braden Phillips
Historical research: Evangelos Rosios, Braden Phillips
Executive production: Victor Zabrockis
 
RIGHTS OVERVIEW
Source of artwork: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Underlying work rights: CC0
Digital copyrights: CC0