Cherokee man, George Lowrey

Local Numbers: OPPS NEG.44654
Local Note: Thought by USNM to be from painting by C.B. King. The owner of the original painting was unknown to the Museum in 1939.; Black and white copy negative

See more items in: Bureau of American Ethnology negatives; Bureau of American Ethnology negatives / Additional Materials / King, Charles Bird ?

Biographical / Historical: It seems likely that this is George Lowrey (a Cherokee, see Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30 and Mooney, 19th AR-BAE), but it was probably painted by J.M. Stanley, not Catlin. See Stanley, J.M., Portraits of North American Indians, Smithsonian Institution (Pub. No. 53), Washington, December, 1852, page 15, where he lists "Keeth-la or Dog. (Painted 1844.) Commonly called Major George Lowrey...He is painted in the attitude of explaining the wampum..." On page 18, in describing his painting of the International Indian Council at Tahlequah, 1843, Stanley refers to Lowrey's explanation of the wampum at that council, and quotes his speech. --MCB, 8-57; called to my attention by W.C. Sturtevant.

Bibliography: Published in Malone, Henry Thompson, Cherokees of the Old South; A People in Transition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, (copyright) 1956, opposite page 82. Caption: George Lowrey. Credit: From a Catlin portrait, courtesy of the Gilcrease institute, Tulsa, Oklahoma.; Similar portrait, laterally reversed, published in E.L. Fundaburk, Southeastern Indians, 1958, page 132, with caption: "George Lowrey. This oil painting of George Lowrey is 22 x 26 inches. It is owned by and pictured herein, Courtesy of the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa." -- MCB 3-60.