The time of the great discovery of the North American continent was actually long gone in the 19th century - it was more about the shift of the "frontier", the border area to the "Wild West", with: Gold Rush, expeditions to the West Coast, settler trails from the American East Coast to the "Wild West." And it was about the conquest and seizure of the Midwest, the inner space of today's USA and the frontier region to today's Canada.
In the midst of it as a kind of official painter of the U.S. campaign of conquest: James Otto Lewis (1799-1858), son of German emigrants. His father came from Crailsheim in Baden-Württemberg and had his name changed in America from "Ludwig" to "Lewis". James Otto Lewis was born in Philadelphia in the eastern United States and trained as an engraver, painter and draftsman. In 1819, he moved to the "Wild West" in Detroit. The American War of Independence had not been long in coming; by 1820, the new United States was gradually taking over the territories around the Great Lakes - from British troops and from Native Americans. The British retreated to Canada, and the "Indian tribes" were defeated in several campaigns. James Otto Lewis accompanied the "expeditions" to the "frontier" in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan and documented in his paintings surrender negotiations with the indigenous tribes, including the Sioux, Sauk, Potawatamie, Chippewa and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago). Beginning in 1823, he portrayed some of the leaders of the tribes on behalf of the American "Indian Bureau" and, in a few prints, other members, such as Ta-Ma-Kake-Toke ("The Woman Who Spoke First; a Chippeway Squaw (Mourning)"). In 1833 he portrayed Blackhawk, a famous Sauk chief, in Detroit dressed like a middle-class American in the distinguished skirt typical of the period.
In some respects, his portraits seem technically and artistically striking, awkward and childlike. Indigenous leaders are usually fancifully decked out, depicted with "war paint" and Europeanized facial features. Some of Lewis's portraits found their way into the Indian Affairs Office collection ("History of the Indian Tribes of North America"), and James Otto Lewis published his own lithograph collection of 72 color prints, "The Aboriginal Port Folio," in 1835/1836. They are one of the earliest documents of the Midwest's native peoples near the Great Lakes. For the U.S. identity that was just forming, the "Frontier," the stories of the conquest and settlement of the "Wild West" by settlers of diverse origins, form an important part. This includes the portrayal of indigenous culture: idealized, defeated, and disappearing. In the mid-19th century, people began to take more and more interest in their own origins and their own American land. Portraits such as those of James Otto Lewis and his contemporaries, the Americans George Catlin and Seth Eastman or the two Germans Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied and Karl Bodmer, as documents of the disappearing indigenous culture of Ur-America, as an image of one's own Americanization and as the first artistic expression of American identity, certainly corresponded to the taste of the times. James Otto Lewis returned to the East Coast and died impoverished and forgotten in New York State in 1858. The originals of his prints were destroyed in a fire in 1865.
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.jpg "Pe-schick-ee by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "The Little Crow, a Celebrated Sioux Chief by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "PE-SCHICK-EE; A Celebrated Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Shin-ga-ba W")
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.jpg "Ash-e-taa-na-quet, a Celebrated Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie du Chien, September 1825 by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "KER-O-MENEE; A Celebrated Winnebago Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "SHOUNK-CHUNK the Black Wolf; A Winnebago Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, September 1825, from")
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.jpg "A Celebrated Ottawa Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Waa-na-taa or the Foremost in Battle, Chief of the Sioux Tribe, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "NAH-SHAW-A-GAA The White Dog")
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.jpg "CAN-NO-SA-QUA; A Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, September 1825, from")
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.jpg "KITCH-EE-I-AA-BA or the Big Buck; A Chippewa Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "WADT-HE-DOO-KAANA; Chief of the Winnebagoes, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Chippeway Mother and Child, illustration from")
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.jpg "CAW-TAA-WAA-BE-TA or the Snaggle")
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.jpg "Ker-o-menée, a celebrated Winnebago Chief, 1827 by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "PE-CHE-CO; A Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Wadt-He-Doo-Kaana, Winnebago Chief, 1825 by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Chippeway Women, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "FRANCIS GODFROY; A Celebrated Chief Among the Miamis, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "WA-KAUN or the Snake; A Winnebago Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "KEE-O-TUCK-KEE; A Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Men-dow-min or The Corn, a Chippewa Dwarf, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "The Little Crow, A Celebrated Sioux Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "CUT-TAA-TAS-TIA; A Celebrated Chief of the Fox Tribe, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "KEE-ME-ONE or Rain; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Chippeway Woman and Child, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "O-HYA-WA-NIM-CE-KEE or the Yellow Thunder; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "TENS-QUA-TA-WA or The One Who Opens the Door; Shawnese Prophet (Brother of Tecumthe), from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "TSHU-GU-GA; A Celebrated Chief half Winnebago and half French, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie Du Chien, September 1825, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "JACK-O-PA or the Six; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "TOO-SHA-NA-GAN-KA or The Little Otter; A Winnebago Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "RICHARDVILLE; A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Young Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Waa-bin-de-ba or the White Headed Eagle by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MO-WAN-ZA or The Little Wolf; A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "WAA-TOP-E-NOT or the Eagle")
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.jpg "A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "CHA-CO-TO, A Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Winnebago Squaw by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "WAA-BIN-DE-BA or the White Headed Eagle; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "O-CHE-NA-SHINK-KAD or the Man that Stands and Strikes; A Winnebago Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Cut-taa-tas-tia by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "PACHE-E-PO; A Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "RICHARDVILLE; The Head Chief of the Miami Tribe of the Indians, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "The Snake by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MISH-SHA-QUAT or the Clear Sky; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MI-A-QU-A; A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "ME-NO-QUET; A Distinguished Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MAC-CUT-I-MISH-E-CA-CU-CAC or Black Hawk; A Celebrated Sac Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Pen-Now-We-Ta, a Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MA-CHE-KA-KAT or the Bad Hawk; A Monomonie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Nah-shaw-a-gaa or The White Dog")
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.jpg "NA-SHE-MUNG-GA, A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Miami Chief by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A View of the Butte Des Morts Treaty Ground; With the Arrival of the Commissioners Gov. Lewis Cass and Col. McKenny, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "WAA-BA-SHAW; A Celebrated Sioux Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "The Eagle")
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.jpg "WEESH-CUB or the Sweet; A Noted Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "O-wan-ich-koh or the Little Elk by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A View of the Butte Des Morts Treaty Ground by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "She-sheba or The Little Duck by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Ker-o-menee by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "The Little Crow by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "SHING-GAA-BA-W")
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.jpg "Shing-Gaa-Ba-Wosin or the Figured Stone by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Na-mas or the Little Sturgeon by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Winnebago Woman; Wife of O")
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.jpg "SUN-A-GET or Hard Times; A Pottawatomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "BREWETT; A Celebrated Chief Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "KAA-NUN-DER-WAAGUINSE-ZOO or the Berry Picker; A Famous Chippewa Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "CHAT-O-MIS-SEE; Pottowattomie Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Too-sha-na-gan-ka or The Little Otter by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MA-KO-ME-TA or the Bear")
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.jpg "Men-dow-min or The Corn by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Brewett by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Sioux Chief by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Mish-sha-quat or The Clear Sky by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Waa-Na-Taa or the Foremost in Battle by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Nabu-naa-kee-shick or The One Side of the Sky by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Jack-o-pa or the Six by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Caa-taa-ke Mung-ga or the Speckled Loon by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "KE-WA-DIN or the North Wind; A Chippeway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Na-she-mung-ga by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Kee-me-one or Rain by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Com-no-sa-qua by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "MAUCK-COOMAUN; A Celebrated Ioway Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "A Celebrated Ottawa Chief by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Ma-che-ka-kat or the Bad Hawk by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "CAA-TAA-KE MUNG-GA or the Speckled Loon, A Miami Chief, from The Aboriginal Portfolio by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Cha-Co-To by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Caw-taa-waa-be-ta or the Snagled Tooth by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Wa-em-boesh-kaa by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "O-check-ka or Four Legs by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "Mac-cut-i-mish-e-ca-cu-cac or Black Hawk by James Otto Lewis")
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.jpg "At-te-conse or the Young Reindeer by James Otto Lewis")
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