Black Hawk
Lithograph, 1840 — Frame: 12 x 9¼ inches; sight: 6¼ x 3⅝ inches
 
A lithographic portrait of Black Hawk, after a design by John T. Bowen, reflecting early American efforts to disseminate the likenesses of prominent Native leaders through widely circulated lithographic prints.
 
Black Hawk, a principal leader of the Sauk, is closely associated with the Black Hawk War, a conflict arising from disputes over land and sovereignty in the Old Northwest. Portraits of this period contributed to the growing nineteenth-century visual record of Native American figures and their role in the expanding American frontier narrative.
 
Condition: Very fine, with a light stain at the upper left.