Captain Cold, or Ut-ha-wah

On view in the American Art before 1900 galleries

Ut-ha-wah—Onondaga chief of the Six Nations, or Iroquois, a confederacy also known as the Haudenosaunee—distinguished himself while fight­ing on the American side during the War of 1812. A three-year encounter between Great Britain and the United States, the war was fought primarily to se­cure Canadian and maritime territory. John Wilgus shows the Native American chief in the classical stance of a military hero. However, Ut-ha-wah’s introspective gaze subverts the triumphant pose, imbuing the painting with a greater focus on the psychological state of the sitter. Ironically, portraits of American Indians became popular just as the sub­jects themselves “disappeared” following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated their departure from their ancestral lands.