James Otto Lewis

James Otto Lewis was an American engraver and painter who was noted for his portraits of Native Americans and other figures of the American frontier. Lewis began his engraving career in Philadelphia about 1815. He went west in 1819 and began traveling with Gov. Lewis Cass of the Michigan Territory while the U.S. Government employed him to paint portraits of Indians from 1823 to 1834. Acting in his official role during the 1820s, Lewis attended numerous Indian treaties and ceremonies held in Indiana and Wisconsin where he began to take portraits of many of the participants. In 1826 Thomas L. McKenney who was the superintendent of Indian Affairs accompanied Gov. Cass on one of the official trips into. McKenney became a very important figure in Lewiss career when in 1827 McKenneys Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes... containing twentynine engraved or illustrated images, with the majority of them appear to be by Lewis, although he is not credited on any of the plates. His work is identified

Lewis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in 1799. He died in New York City, New York, in 1858.

Source: Wikipedia