McKenney and Hall, 1836-1844 - CHITTEE-YOHOLO. A SEMINOLE CHIEF., from History of the Indian Tribes of North - ca. 1838 - T-Shirt

This hand-coloured lithographic portrait shows Chittee-Yoholo, a Seminole leader, framed as a dignified bust-length likeness against a warm parchment ground.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is built around a single vertical portrait rectangle, with the figure set in a bust-length vignette that fills most of the frame. Parchment cream dominates the background, giving the image an aged, paper-like warmth. Pale sky blue appears in the ruffled cape, with crimson red in the head-cloth and warm tan in the skin tones. Silver grey picks out the headband and the gorget medals at the chest. The printed caption, CHITTEE YOHOLO and A SEMINOLE CHIEF., anchors the composition at the foot of the image.

Meaning & Symbolism

The headband, head-cloth and gorget medals were the visual language of rank, and the formal pose marks the subject as a tribal leader rather than a generic figure. Chittee-Yoholo, also known as Snake Pitching, played a notable role in the early nineteenth-century conflicts in Florida. The portrait comes from Thomas McKenney and James Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America, one of the most ambitious archival projects on Native American history of its century. Its lithographs were drawn from original paintings to create a definitive visual record during the years the United States was displacing the cultures it documented. The work carries the weight of the Seminole Wars and of that documentary ambition.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A bust-length portrait suits the front of a tee, where the face sits at chest height and the caption reads as a title when worn. The vertical rectangle of the print follows the torso, so the figure stays centred whether the shirt is worn open or layered. Its fine linework and muted palette read best up close, in the way the original plate was meant to be studied.