NOT-CHI-MI-NE. AN IOWAY CHIEF., from History of the Indian Tribes of North America

Art Historical Context

Behold *Not-Chi-Mi-Ne, An Ioway Chief*, a striking hand-colored lithograph from the series *History of the Tribes of North America*1836–1844), produced by Thomas L. McKenney and Hall. Created around 1838, this print captures the dignified bust portrait of Not-Chii-Ne, a prominent Iowa chief, based on an original oil painting by Charles Bird King.Kenney, former head of the U.S. of Indian Affairs, commissioned portraits in the 1820s and 1830s to document Native American leaders visiting Washington, D.C., amid rising tensions of westward expansion and Indian removal policies. The artwork showcases Not-Chi-Mi-Ne in traditional Iowa dress, adorned with intricate beadwork and feathers, and proudly wearing a large silver Indian Peace Medal—symbols of diplomacy presented by U.S. presidents to tribal leaders. As part of McKenney and Hall's ambitious project, these prints blend portraiture with ethnography, preserving visual records of vanishing cultures through meticulous lithography and vibrant hand-coloring techniques that brought the originals to life for a wide audience. Today, housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this piece highlights the complex interplay of admiration and paternalism in 19th-century American views of Native peoples, offering visitors a window into Iowa heritage and the fragile era of tribal-U.S. relations.