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The "Big Medicine Man"

Paul Frenzeny American

1873-1874

Not on view

Here, Frenzeny captured his fellow Harper’s Weekly artist Tavernier at work on a portrait of, most likely, a distinguished Northern Plains Indigenous couple with their horse. Wearing formal European traveling attire, which he would soon exchange for frontiersman garb, Tavernier sits, palette in hand, on a portable artist’s stool before an easel holding a framed oil study. He works on his portrayal before a watchful audience, and a child investigates the art box at his feet.

The "Big Medicine Man", Paul Frenzeny (American (born France), 1840–1902 London), Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite pencil on blue-gray paper, American — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: The "Big Medicine Man"

Artist: Paul Frenzeny (American (born France), 1840–1902 London)

Date: 1873-1874

Culture: American

Medium: Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite pencil on blue-gray paper

Dimensions: Sheet: 12 1/2 × 18 9/16 in. (31.8 × 47.1 cm)

Credit Line: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Watercolors and Drawings, 1800-1875

The Met

The American Wing at The Met

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works by African American, Euro American, Native American, and Latin American artists, ranging from the colonial to early-modern period.