Highlights Archives
George Catlin's Amazing Career
On Tuesday, August 19, the Wisconsin Historical Museum offers a fascinating look at the person who, perhaps more than anyone else, shaped 19th-century America's concept of Indians. During the History Sandwiched In presentation, artist David Geister and writer Patricia Bauer will present Painting on the Frontier: The Art and Travels of George Catlin. The program starts at 12:15 p.m. and is open to the public.
Catlin (1796-1872) grew up on the Ohio frontier. His childhood encounters with local Indians produced a lifelong interest in native cultures, and at the age of 32 he abandoned his law practice in Philadelphia to follow his passion — painting Native Americans.
In 1830 he headed west to St. Louis, where the aging William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark Expedition), escorted him 400 miles up the Mississippi so Catlin could paint the leaders of several nations assembled at Prairie du Chien. Catlin remained in the West for the next six years, painting about 300 portraits of dignitaries from 48 tribes and 175 landscapes.
Catlin returned to the East in 1837 to exhibit his work. Fascinated New Yorkers paid 50 cents each and thronged his gallery for weeks. This success was repeated in other cities, but the American market was soon saturated and he embarked for Europe at the end of 1839.
Although his exhibits in London, Brussels and Paris were popular, the expense of shipping himself, his entourage, and his enormous collection kept him perpetually in debt. Despite accolades from Queen Victoria and King Louis-Phillipe of France, he could never make ends meet and in 1852, following the deaths of his wife and son, he was thrown into a London debtors' prison.
A wealthy Pennsylvania railroad tycoon rescued Catlin, paying off his debts and buying his entire collection (which he put into storage). For the next 18 years Catlin wandered around Europe and South America, selling knock-off copies from his gallery of Indian portraits and adding new pieces to it on his travels. He returned to the U.S. in 1870 where, in 1872, his more recent paintings were exhibited at the Smithsonian (which provided the elderly and impoverished Catlin room and board until he died at the end of the year). In 1879 his original 450 paintings from the 1830s were given to the Smithsonian by the widow of the railroad tycoon who had warehoused them. The Catlin Collection has been one of the museum's most popular exhibits ever since. The Wisconsin Historical Society's painting collection also includes a few Catlin portraits.
While he was in England in 1844, Catlin produced a huge lithographed volume showing his paintings, a sort of catalog to persuade potential supporters to arrange an exhibit or purchase copies. The Society's copy of the book, Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, is one of only about 20 known. It is reproduced in its entirety in our American Journeys online collection.
Catlin later wrote a series of books about his travels, illustrated with reproductions of his paintings. These books went through more than 100 editions during his lifetime and were one of the principal sources from which urban, white Americans formed opinions of the cultures whom they had dispossessed. Many of these books can be read online at Google Books, a cooperative venture to which the Society contributes thousands of volumes.
Come hear more about the life of the painter whose passion, like that of Audubon or Curtis, fueled a life of wandering and hardship but left us an enduring monument of American art: Painting on the Frontier: The Art and Travels of George Catlin. For more information, call 608-264-6555.
:: Posted August 15, 2008
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