George Catlin, The Last Race, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr. · Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Open Access (CC0)View original →
George Catlin

The Last Race, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony

1832

Current Collection

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Washington, D.C., United States

Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
58.8 × 71.3 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-135982

The O-kee-pa ceremony, which George Catlin witnessed on his travels along the Upper Missouri in 1832, was the centerpiece of the Mandan religious calendar. The annual enactment of the O-kee-pa was a four-day ritual that included the painful initiation of the most promising young men of the tribe. Catlin documented the ceremony in a series of paintings that were among the most important of his sce…

Provenance

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.

Registry history

  • 1832 — Recorded in the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum

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