Boy Chief - Ojibbeway

George Catlin

National Gallery of Art

The head, shoulders, and chest of a young man with brown skin, dressed in Ojibbeway tribal attire, faces and looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. The right side of his face, on our left, is painted crimson red, and horizonal stripes of red and white line his other cheek. He looks at us with dark brown eyes under black eyebrows. A silvery white ring hangs from his nose between his nostrils. His upper lip is darker than his skin-colored lower lip, and his mouth is closed. His brown fur headdress has a cardinal-red patch at the front center. Pearl-white feathers with red tips hang along both sides of his face and down to his shoulders. The sleeves of his tan coat are streaked with sky blue, tomato red, and lemon-lime green, and fringe of the same colors hangs along the arms. Fur lining at the neck follows the curve of a string of curving, white claws and a glinting string of silvery-gray beads. He also wears a high, beaded collar with white and dark brown geometric pattern. A strap crosses his chest. The background behind him is mottled with sage green, tan, and cream white.