No Heart (Nan-che-ning-ga)

Art Historical Context

This captivating painting, "No HeartNan-che-ningga)," created by Charles Bird King in 183, presents a bust portrait an Iowa tribal member.ed as a painting, it focuses closely on the subject's face and upper, a classic approach in portraiture that emphasizes personal presence and character. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection through a gift from Miss Helen Barlow, the work stands as a valuable example of 19th-century American art. Charles Bird King, working in the early 1800s, used the painting medium to record the likeness of Nan-che-ning-ga, known in English as No Hear...