Pelts and Power, Mohawks and Myth: Benjamin West's Portrait of Guy Johnson

Guy Johnson had only recently been appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain's northern colonies when he traveled to London in 1776 and commissioned Benjamin West to paint his portrait costumed in Mohawk garb. This essay interprets the masculine imagery of this unusual portrait as a direct response to the unprecedented challenges Johnson faced as a loyalist in charge of upholding the Crown's policies at a time of revolution. Seen in this light, the portrait mythologizes Johnson as possessing those masculine attributes that would permit him and his heirs to continue to live as elites in a British North America.