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.
Leader of the Mandan Beróck-Óchatä
Karl Bodmer Swiss
Not on view
Bodmer and Maximilian witnessed several Mandan and Hidatsa wintertime ceremonial dances performed by special societies. Organized by age, each of these restricted groups had privileged knowledge and responsibilities to the community. Many of Bodmer’s sitters proudly identified their membership by posing with their society insignia. In one of the artist’s most ambitious full-length portraits, a member of the prestigious men’s Beróck-Óchatä (Buffalo Bull Society) wears a headdress fashioned from a buffalo head, which only two chosen warriors had the right to wear. The bull’s glittering, tin-lined eyes and mouth lend an uncanny liveliness to the figure, who poses with confidence and ease. The European travelers viewed one of the four annual Beróck-Óchatä performances in the spring of 1834.
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