We-na-sha-gu, Chief — Indian Wigwam Outdoor Portrait

Julius Meyer, known among Plains peoples as Box-ka-re-sha-hash-ta-ka, produced this outdoor portrait of the chief We-na-sha-gu at his Omaha trading post. Numbered 179 in Meyer's extensive stereoview series, the plate exemplifies a compositional strategy distinct from his formal indoor sittings. The arrangement, with the subject bare chested holding a rifle and bear claw necklace, represents a more ethnographic vantage Meyer favored for certain portraits made outside the confines of the studio.