NAH-SHAW-A-GAA The White Dog's Son, Pottawatomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio

Art Historical Context

**NAH-SHAW-A-GAA, The White Dog's Son, Pottawatomie Chief** (1835) by James Otto Lewis captures the dignified waist-length portrait of a Pottawatomie leader, adorned in traditional Indian dress. Part of *The Aboriginal Portfolio*, this lithographic print showcases Lewis's mission to document Native American dignitaries during a pivotal era of U.S. expansion. Lewis, an early 19th-century artist, sketched portraits at the 1827 Treaty of Prairie du Chien council, where tribal leaders negotiated land cessions amid growing pressures for Indigenous removal. Published in 1835, the portfolio—one of the first major collections of Native American likenesses—preserved these figures for posterity through innovative lithography, allowing wider dissemination than oil paintings. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this work highlights Pottawatomie cultural resilience, with Nah-Shaw-A-GAA's attire symbolizing heritage. It invites visitors to reflect on the human stories behind treaties that reshaped the American Midwest. (178 words)