Student Essay

Sarah Wilkinson
This essay was written by an M.A. student in a Museum Practice seminar in the Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University. The seminar was taught by Dr. Loren Lerner with the assistance of Dina Vescio, a M.A. graduate of the program.

The Tattoos of the Four Kings

The so-called ‘Four Kings’ sought to solidify an alliance with England and military aid against the French. Upon their arrival in England Queen Anne was so delighted with them she commissioned their portraits. These portraits are the earliest surviving full- length portraits of North American aboriginal individuals painted from life. They are viewed as an invaluable record of the social and political history of Canada. These portraits are also of much interest to the tattoo industry and scholars interested in tattoo culture. This is mainly because the tattoos have been said to serve as an accurate depiction of the facial and body tattoos of the Iroquois and Mahican.¹ Three of the four figures have tattoos. Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row (baptized John) is featured with tattoos on the face and scalp area (fig. 1). Etow Oh Koam (baptized Nicholas) also has facial tattoos in the form of what appears to be birds on the left side of his face (fig. 2). Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow (baptized Brant) is the most decorated of the three figures, with tattoos featured on his face and chest (fig. 3). These tattoos are slightly different than his fellow Chiefs as they appear more geometric and linear.

Iroquois and Mahican Tattoo Culture

The tattoo process of the Iroquois and Mahican tribes differs in some important ways from modern practice. The chosen designs were stencilled onto the skin prior to the skin being punctured with needles or tiny bones.² Once blood appeared pigment made from crushed charcoal and red cinnabar was rubbed onto the wound.³ The tattoo design was the scarred result of this wound.

The women of Iroquois nations did bare tattoos, although it was often used for medicinal purposes. Men on the other hand utilized tattoos as a record of military achievements.⁴ Moreover, these nations tattooed family totems on their bodies and faces in order to signify family and rank.⁵ Since the purpose of the tattoo was to record one’s own accomplishment, each individual had a tattoo pattern that was distinctly related to his life story. These tattoos featured geometric designs and double-curve motifs much like those depicted on Brant (fig. 4).⁶ They were often located on the face, and other areas of the body including the neck and thighs. As each tattoo pattern is unique to an individual it is very difficult to determine what the tattoos in the portraits of Nicholas, John and Brant signify.

Although tattoo artists see paintings of the four ‘kings’ as accurate accounts of the tattoos of these individuals, this viewpoint must be approached with caution. While the artist John Verelst most likely painted the faces of the four chiefs from life, their bodies and the background of the paintings may have been added later by the assistants in his workshop.⁷ It must also be taken into consideration as has been mentioned by members of the Mohawk community, that during this period the European interests were very much about eroticizing the ‘other’.⁸ These paintings may be influenced not only by Verelst’s perspective but also if he did paint the tattoos himself, there is the possibility of human error in the rendering of the tattoos located on the chest of Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow. Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow is the only figure amongst the three figures rendered with bodily as well as facial tattoos.

The History of First Nation Tattoo Practice

In historical Western Cree culture which includes Swampy Cree, Western Woods Cree, Rocky Cree, Western Swampy Cree and Bois Fort Cree both women and men had tattoos.⁹ Women would commonly have three lines tattooed vertically on the chin, made by drawing a charcoal covered needle through the skin.¹⁰ Men often had tattoos located on the face as well as hands and in some cases on the body region. The approach of the Cree Nations to the tattoo practice though similar to the Iroquois practice, differed slightly. The puncturing of the skin was done utilizing a wood frame containing needles rather than a needle or bone before rubbing the wounds with charcoal.¹¹ The South-eastern Ojibwa nations located around Manitoulin Island, Georgian Bay, and Lake Huron also had tattooing practices. The women wore tattoos on the face and chin, while the men often had full body tattoos.¹² Different areas of the body chosen for tattooing and types of markings varied between Nation and region. The tattoo practice of First Nations culture was imbued with ritual and symbolic purpose and practiced by men and women.

Contemporary Tribal Tattoo Culture

During the time of the ‘Four Kings’ tattoo practices were an integral aspect of their culture. In contemporary society there are numerous reasons why people both indigenous and non-indigenous choose to get tattoos. During the 1990s a movement termed the ‘Tattoo Renaissance’ swept the nation, making way for a rise in tattoo shops and also the desire and shift towards tribal-style tattoos.¹³ Tribal tattoos or ‘black-work’ are still some of the most popular tattoos of today. It has been noted that this type of fascination may be seen as another form of Western society’s cultural consumption of the ‘other’.¹⁴

Tattoos among First Nations people today are derived from the original sacred and spiritual associations of the practice, rather than out of fascination.¹⁵ In contemporary Iroquois culture the art of tattooing is still practiced on a modified level. After the 18th century and regulations imposed upon indigenous people within the Indian Act, the practice dwindled.¹⁶ The introduction of trade cloth and luxurious clothing that covered a large part of the body was also probably a reason for the demise of tattooing.¹⁷ It is generally agreed in the Iroquois community that the tattoo designs, much like other elements of Iroquois culture, were passed down through the generations, with the main points of reference being the skin.¹⁸ The art of facial tattooing is very rarely practiced, and Chiefs today have tattoos, though they are less prominent.¹⁹

Contemporary Western tattoo culture is often defined as a statement of deviation and rejection of social norms. Although tattoo practices are becoming more accepted within Western societies individuals that brandish tattoos still run the risk of being viewed as morally or socially inferior.²⁰ This view can be traced back to the opinion of colonialists who regarded tattoos as sexual and barbaric.²¹ This attitude led to the demise of tattooing among First Nations people including the Haida, Iroquois, Ojibwa and Crow.²²

Some mixed-blood individuals want tattoos to pay homage to their indigenous lineage, while for other non-indigenous individuals the tattoo serves as homage to First Nations culture in general.²³ There is much speculation in the First Nations communities about this reasoning due to the difficulty of knowing what the appropriate tattoo design is.²⁴ The idea of authenticity can be problematic because of a lack of proper information and the perceptions that circulate in non-indigenous communities.²⁵

Although there has been some scholarly research into the tattoo practices of the Haida culture, there is very limited reliable scholarship written on tattoo practices amongst many of the other First Nations groups.²⁶ This may be a result of the Christian colonial beliefs that the practice was paganistic and barbaric and needed to be eliminated in order too assimilate indigenous peoples. The image by Tim Phelps showcases a contemporary example of a Indian Chief with a headdress (fig. 5). The lack of information pertaining to the practices and symbolic meanings associated with many indigenous societies adds an element of importance to the facial tattoos of Chiefs Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, Etow Oh Koam, Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow, in the Four Indian Kings paintings.

Figures

fig. 1 John Verelst (detail of Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas), ca. 1710, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 64.5 cm, Library and Archives Canada. (Photo: C-092421 Library and Archives Canada {http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/virtual-vault/4-kings/026021-119.01-e.php?metadata_id_nbr=73&PHPSESSID=ahcboo1aaik0iotbsup59rao47})

fig. 2 John Verelst, (detail of Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, (baptized John) King of Generethgarich, ca. 1710, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 64.5 cm, Library and Archives Canada. (Photo: C-092417 Library and Archives Canada { http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/virtual-vault/4-kings/026021-119.01-e.php?metadata_id_nbr=75&PHPSESSID=ahcboo1aaik0iotbsup59rao47 })

fig. 3 John Verelst (detail of Etow Oh Koam, (baptized Nicholas), King of the River Nation, ca. 1710, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 64.5 cm, Library and Archives Canada. (Photo: C-092421 Library and Archives Canada {http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/virtual-vault/4-kings/026021-119.01-e.php?metadata_id_nbr=76&PHPSESSID=ahcboo1aaik0iotbsup59rao47}

fig. 4 John Verelst (detail of Brant’s Tattoos: Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, (baptized Brant) King of the Maquas, ca. 1710, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 64.5 cm, Library and Archives Canada. (Photo: C-092419 Library and Archives Canada {http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/virtual-vault/4-kings/026021-119.01-e.php?metadata_id_nbr=73&PHPSESSID=ahcboo1aaik0iotbsup59rao47})

fig. 5 Tim Phelps, Indian-Chief-with Headdress (Chief known as “Scared of Eagle”) in Karen Hudson, Tattoos by Featured Artist Tim Phleps – Age of Reason Custom Tattoos. (Photo: About.com Guide {http://tattoo.about.com/od/featuredartists/ig/Tim-Phelps-Tattoo-Gallery/Indian-Chief-with-Headdress.htm})

Notes

1. Lars Krutak, “America’s Tattooed Indian Kings,” The Vanishing Tattoo (2005) 12 Oct. 2009 {http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattooed_indian_kings.htm}.
2. Krutak.
3. Krutak.
4. Krutak.
5. Catherine Mattes, “Tattooing among the First Nations of Turtle Island,” Cyberpowwow, (1997), 12 Oct. 2009 {http://www.cyberpowwow.net/nation2nation/tattoin.htm}.
6. Josephine Paterek, The Encyclopaedia of American Indian Costume (New York: Norton, 1996) 57.
7. Alden T. Vaughan, Transatlantic encounters: American Indians in Britain, 1500-1776 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006) 96.
8. Wahsontiio Cross (member of the Mohawk Nation), E-mail correspondence with Sarah Wilkinson, 15 Nov. 2009.
9. Paterek, 376.
10. Paterek, 378.
11. Paterek, 378.
12. Paterek, 63.
13. Mattes.
14. Victoria Pitts, In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) 3.
15. Pitts, 119.
16. Janet C. Berlo & Ruth B. Phillips, Native and North American Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) 148.
17. Berlo & Phillips, 94.
18. Cross.
19. Cross.
20. Clinton Sanders, Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989) 2.
21. Mattes.
22. Mattes.
23. Lewis, “Getting a Native American Tattoo: The Trouble with Tribal Designs,” Native Languages of the Americas Website, (1997), 12 Oct. 2009 {http://www.native-languages.org/tattoo.htm}.
24. Lewis.
25. Lewis.
26. Mattes.