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Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph
Artist
Cyrenius Hall, 20 Mar 1830 - 1904
Sitter
Chief Joseph, c. 1840 - 21 Sep 1904
Date
June 1878
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 55.9 x 46 x 2.5cm (22 x 18 1/8 x 1")
Frame: 67.6 x 57.2 x 7cm (26 5/8 x 22 1/2 x 2 3/4")
Topic
Costume\Jewelry\Earring
Costume\Jewelry\Necklace\Bead
Chief Joseph: Male
Chief Joseph: Native American\Native American leader\Chief
Portrait
Place
United States\Kansas\Leavenworth\Fort Leavenworth
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.68.19
Exhibition Label
Born Wallowa Valley, Oregon
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, also known as Chief Joseph, led a decades-long campaign to protect his people’s right to live on ancestral lands. Chief Joseph’s father was among the Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce, who rejected a treaty in 1863 that gave the federal government custody of virtually all the tribe’s Oregon homeland, where gold had recently been discovered. Throughout the early 1870s, Chief Joseph negotiated against federal attempts to relocate his community.
Finally, in 1877, military troops threatened to forcefully move the Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph led approximately eight hundred followers on a strategic retreat toward Canada. Only thirty miles from the border, a siege by U.S. troops forced Chief Joseph’s surrender. For the next eight years, he was imprisoned at several sites, including Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Cyrenius Hall painted this portrait. Following his release, Chief Joseph resumed diplomatic efforts on behalf of the Nez Perce.
Nacido en el Valle de Wallowa, Oregón
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, conocido también como Jefe Joseph, hizo campaña durante décadas por el derecho de su pueblo a vivir en sus tierras ancestrales. Su padre estuvo entre los nimiipuus, o nez percés, que rechazaron un tratado de 1863 que daba al gobierno federal la custodia de las tierras de la tribu en Oregón, donde se había encontrado oro. A principios de la década siguiente, el Jefe Joseph negoció para frenar las tentativas de relocalizar a su comunidad.
Finalmente, en 1877, el ejército amenazó con trasladar por la fuerza a los nez percés a una reservación en Idaho. El Jefe Joseph lideró a unos 800 seguidores en una retirada estratégica hacia Canadá. A solo 30 millas de la frontera, fueron sitiados por las tropas estadounidenses y obligados a rendirse. El Jefe Joseph pasó ocho años prisionero en distintos lugares, entre ellos el Fuerte Leavenworth, en Kansas, donde Cyrenius Hall pintó este retrato. Tras su liberación, reanudó sus gestiones diplomáticas a favor de los nez percés.
Provenance
(Victor D. Spark, New York); purchased 1968 NPG.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View
NPG, East Gallery 141