George Catlin ends his six-year tour of…
1836 CE
Catlin began his journey in 1830 when he accompanied General William Clark on a diplomatic mission up the Mississippi River into native territory.
St. Louis had become Catlin’s base of operations for the five trips he has taken took between 1830 and 1836, eventually visiting fifty tribes.
Catlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
As a child growing up in Pennsylvania, Catlin had spent many hours hunting, fishing, and looking for American Indian artifacts.
His fascination with Native Americans was kindled by his mother, who told him stories of the western frontier and how she was captured by a tribe when she was a young girl.
Years later, a group of Native Americans came through Philadelphia dressed in their colorful outfits and made quite an impression on Catlin.
His early work included engravings, drawn from nature, of sites along the route of the Erie Canal in New York State.
Several of his renderings had been published in one of the first printed books to use lithography, Cadwallader D. Colden's Memoir, Prepared at the Request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and Presented to the Mayor of the City, at the Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals, published in 1825, with early images of the City of Buffalo.
Following a brief career as an attorney, Catlin will produce two major collections of paintings of Native Americans and publish a series of books chronicling his travels among the native peoples of North, Central, and South America.
Images
George Catlin: Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe (1832). Oil on canvas, 29 in (73.6 cm) by 24 in (60.9 cm); Smithsonian American Art Museum
Subjects
Regions
Northern North America
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