On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Pachtüwa-Chtä, Arikara Man
Karl Bodmer Swiss
Not on view
Bodmer painted Pachtüwa-Chtä’s portrait at the request of the Mandan chief Mató-Tópe, over the course of two days at Fort Clark. Called simply "the Arikara" by Maximilian, Pachtüwa-Chtä was the only member of his tribe portrayed by Bodmer. Three black circles resembling gunshot wounds are painted on his chest, and he carries a wood club fashioned after a gunstock, with a metal blade. Like their northern Mandan and Hidatsa neighbors, Arikara people lived in earth lodge settlements. Devastated by the 1837 smallpox epidemic, these three nations came together, eventually organizing officially as the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold.
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