McKenney and Hall, 1836-1844 - MISTIPPEE., from History of the Indian Tribes of North America - ca. 1836 - T-Shirt

This design reproduces a hand-colored lithograph of Mistippee, a seated Native American man, from McKenney and Hall's 1836 publication History of the Indian Tribes of North America.

Visual Elements & Composition

A vertical rectangular portrait fills the frame, and cream paper dominates the field. Brick red, tan skin tones, black, and slate blue appear in smaller passages. The sitter wears a striped shirt and a beaded sash, and holds a bow and arrows. Dot markings cover his face, with a red dot at the forehead. The plate carries the printed name "MIXTIPEE."

Meaning & Symbolism

Charles Bird King painted the original canvases that McKenney and Hall translated into hand-colored lithographs, many of which were later lost in a fire at the War Department. Thomas McKenney, Superintendent of Indian Trade, set out to build a permanent visual and biographical record of Native leaders before many traditional ways of life were altered. The striped shirt, beaded sash, and weapons give the sitter dignity and stature, which the portraits were meant to convey. The folios are also bound up with the paternalistic policies and turbulent federal Indian relations of the period, and that history is part of how the image reads today.

On This Tee

A portrait this upright sits naturally across the chest, where a viewer meets a face at conversation distance. The composed pose and direct presence of the sitter hold attention up close, so the image rewards a closer look from the people around the wearer.