INDIAN PAINTINGS BY GEORGE CATLIN
DEPARTMENT OF ART
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY INDIAN PAINTINGS BY GEORGE CATLIN 1796-1872
INTRODUCTION BY SHIRLEY SCOTT SIMPSON
SEPTEMBER 1 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 1967
DEPARTMENT OF ART, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, FORT COLLINS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This exhibition o( George Catlin paintings comes to Colorado State. University through the courtesy and cooperation of the Division of Cultural Anthropology, and the National Collection of Fine Arts, of the Sl\IITHSONIAN INSTITUTION in Washington, D. C. Special thanks are extended to Dr. David W. Scott, Director of the National Collection of Fine Arts; Dr. William C. Sturtevant, Curator of the Division of Cultural Antlu-opology; and 1\'Ir. William Trueuner, A8sistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture; for their kind assistance in arranging this exhibition. At the University level the support and help of Dr. Ray Chamberlain, Vice President for Adtninistration; Dr. George G. Olson, Vice President for Finance; l\Ir. Ricltard Sie,·er, Assistant to the President; and Dr. Daryl B. Simons, Associate Dean of the College o( Engineering; have been essential to the success of the George Catlin Exhibition. A special exprt;ssion of appreciation and thanks is extended to members of the Department of Art faculty for their assistance in preparing the catalogue and exhibit, particular thanks going to l\frs. Shirley Scott Simpson for her fine biographical statement and bibliography on George Catlin, and ;-.Jr. John Sorbic (or his design of the catalogue, posters publicizing the exhibit, and other publicity materials.
Perry Ragouzis, Chairman Department of Art Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado INTRODUCTION
Historian-ethnologist armed with paintbrush and pen, a man of foresight, dctcnnin ation. and ideals whose steps were dogged by misfortune, misunderstanding. and mis· judgement-this was George Catlin. As so often happens, his one great dream came true-after his death. The foundations he laid as the basis for this dream, howe,·cr, label him as a man far ahead of his time, a man who would allow nothing to interfere with the achievement of his goal. On July 26, 1796, in \Vilkes-Barre, J>ennsyh•ania. Putnam and Polly Sutton Catlin became the parents of their fifth child, a son they named George. Nine other childt·cn were born into the Callin famil~ during the next nineteen years, but none ever approache~l the fame and rqnuation of George. Somcrimc during 1800 or 1801 , rhc family moYcd to a fann in rhe Onaqu;-~gua Valley, along rhc Susquehanna RiYcr in 1\cw York. From early childhood, Gl·orgc had I.J ccn exposed to tail's of Indians told h) ria· old seu lcrs. humcrs. and soldiers who would SlOp at the Catlin farm. Indian :uhenrurcs were parr of the family tradition both his mother and grandmother had hcen taken pri'ioncr b) Indians during the \V)oming Valley ( J>enn:,)h·o.mia) .\lassacre of 1778. There Wt're Oneida Indians frc t(ucnting the Onaquagua \ ·aile) during Gt.•orge\ ho)hood, and George himself ~~~ ~Ill'S , "The plows in my father's field wen: dail) turning up Indian skulls or Indi:111 bonl''i, and Indian flint an-ow-heads."l Around the year 1810. Putnam Catlin moved the family to another fann loGitcd ncar Hopi.Jouom, Penns) IY ania. Prior to the next move, to .\lontrose, Pennsyl\'ania, in 1817. George spent a winter reaching in a o ne-room schoolhouse for the munilicent salary of eight dollars per month. George had h imself been educated at the typical one-room sdwolhouse and had altendcd the academy at \ Vilkes-Bane. During lhis pt·r iod of his )Outll. the boy showed con:,iderably more aptitude in woodsmanship rhan in academic studies. .\lso, at this time, he de,eloped an interest and definite abilit) in the art of portraiture. Putnam Catlin (a lawyer by profession). however, held high hopes for his son and finally <.onvinced George that the study of law was the appropriarc channel for his CIH.' rgic"J . .-\cnlnlingl). George oucrecl Litchfield (Connecticut) Law School in July. 181 i. at the age of twent)·One. He did well enough in his studieo; to be admitted to the bar in Connecticut in September. 1818: whereupon he returned to Pennsylvania, pa:,:,cd the har examination at \Vilkes-Harrc in December, l8J8, and set up his practice in Luterne Count)· Penns) lvania. Until 1823. George cons<.ientiously artcnded to his law practice, probably more to please his father than with any personal sat.isfaction in mind. The urge to paint , however. h) now had become too strong to resist, ;.ul 1 Gcorgc Callin . L ast Hambl~s A mongst lhe l nclum.s of t h ~ Horky .\lou/Itaim aml the Aml~s ( :\cw Yorl.. : D. Applelon & Com pan). 186i), p. 10. :q homas Don ~ l dso n, ... , he George Call in Indian Gall er' in Lh c U. S. :\" a lio nal Museum," in Annual Report of the Smrthsoman l mtztuiiOrl for 188), p. i 06. 1824, by being elected to the Academy of Fine Arts. :\lembership in the Academy led to an increasing number of important commissions and considerable fame as a portraitist. By 1826, George Catlin was an artist of high repute receiving conunissions from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. In spite of his blossoming career, he became aware of the fact .that there must be more satisfying work than reproducing the likenesses of the political and social elite of the large cities of the eastern seaboard. Despite the success of the past two years, portrait painting was a highly compclitivc business, and Catlin realized that his self-taught talent would never allow him access to the first rank of portraitists. He must seek a type of painting which would bring hUn enduring fame and, hopefully, fortune. Catlin suddenly receiv<..-" aceorge Catlin. Letters (lml Notes 011 the Man11ers, Customs, and Co11dition of the North Amenca11 Indians, Vol. II (London: published by the author, 1841 ), P- 2. •Marjorie Catlin Roehm, The Letters of George Cat/hi twd /lis Family ( Berkele): The University of Califomia Press. 1966), p. 34. &Marjorie Halpin, Catlin's bulian Gallery (Washington: The Smithsoni an Institution, 1965), p. 23. artist had ample time to put his subject on canvas; it is a detailed, finished pa inting. On the other hand, Catlin used his field-sketching style when the essence of the event had to be captured in a short time. This style is characterized by little more than minimal indicatiOns of figures and backgrounds. ln January, 1831 , Catlin made a second trip to St. Louis, returning to Philadelphia in early summer. In early 1832, George made yet another trip to St. Louis and traveled up the 1\fissouri River on the American Fur Company's steamboat Yellowstone to Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. This adventure added paintings and notes of the Sioux, Plains Cree, Crow, Blackfoot, Assiniboin, and Ojibway. After remaining at Fort Union about a month, Catlin hired two trappers to help him paddle a canoe down the Missouri to St. Louis. Numerous stops were made along the way to paint and gather information about the )fandan, Kansas, Sauk, Iowa, Omaha, Oto, and Ponca. George returned east in the late fall of 1832 and remained there through out 1833. In the late spring of 1834, Catlin anived at Fort Gibson in the Arkansas Territory. He had applied for and received permission from his friend, Secretary of \Var Lewis Cass, to accompany a regiment of United States Dragoons commanded by Colonel Dodge on a peace-seeking expedition into the lands of the Comanche, Iowa, \Vaco, Wichita, and Pawnee. The expedition left in June and proved to be one of extreme hardship. 1\lany soldiers and Catlin himself contracted bilious fever (cholera) from drinking polluted water; George continued painting and taking notes despite his illness. He returned to St. Louis, where his wife awaited him, and the couple spent the winter of 1834-35 in Pensacola, Florida, where George recuperated from the near fatal illness of the Southwestern expedition. June, 1835, found George and Clara taking a steamboat from St. Louis up the 1\-fississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony ncar St. Paul, Minnesota. During a stay at Fort Snelling, Catlin painted the Yankton Sioux and the Ojibway. Clara returned to St. Louis on the steamboat in the fall, hut George and a companion made the trip by canoe, painting and recording items of interest along the way. In June, 1836, having decided that enough paintings and artifacts had been accumulated for the purpose, George arranged to hold his first exhibition of Catlin's Indian Gallery in Buffalo, New York. However, shortly before the scheduled opening on July first, he heard of a boat going to Sault Ste. ~larie, ncar the pipestone quarries (:Minnesota). Since a visit to the quarries was of vital importance to his project, Catlin traveled west leaving his father anrl brothers the thankless task of dismantling the exhibit and settling the financial arrangements. Catlin disappeared from the first of August until November, at which time letters from him indicared the succes~ of his precarious mission. The sacred red pipestone quarries are located in Sioux country on Coteau des Prairies, west of Fort Snelling. The specimens of the pipestone which Catlin added to his collection were studied and found by mineralogists to be a mineral previously unknown. This was named "Catlinite" (a name it still retains) in honor of the man who dared venture into this dangerous territory to obtain the specimens. Paintings and notes on the Winnebago and .Menominee tribes were added to his portfolio during this sojourn. At long last, in September, 1837, George Catlin opened his first exhibition of Catlin's Gallery in New York City. The exhibition contained, in addition to t.he paintings (portraits, landscapes, scenes of ,·illage life, hunting, religious ceremonies, and dances), many artifacts (tepees and costumes), and implements. There were nightly lectures by Catlin himself. The crowds were large; newspaper publicity was slow at first but gained momentum rapidly and was unanimous in its acclaim of the exhibi· tion. George felt that his purpose would soon be achieved: a National Museum, the nucleus to be his collection (to be purchased by Congress), would be established; an equitable policy for relocating: the Indians would be .enacted; and a large park in the \Vest, where Indians and wi ldlife could live undisturbed for all time, would be created. The matter of purchasing the Catlin lndian Gallery was presented to the l8.'J7 -38 session of Congress and was tabled. Both Daniel \Vcbster and Henry Clay, friends and admirers of the artiSt, argued in vain for its purchase. This same pattern of events was repeated throughout Catlin's lifetime. Until his dying day, George still cherished the futile hope that Congress would take favorable action toward acquiring his collection. The exhibition was taken to \Vashington in the summer of 1838, to Baltimore in late August, and thence to Boston and J>hiladelphia. Gegrge's reasoning was logical: the more people who saw the exhibit, the more pressure would be brought to bear on Congress to purchase the collection. The decision was made to take the collection to Europe (with the idea of possibly stirring Congressional interest over the thought of losing the Gallery to a foreign country), and Catlin sailed to London in November, 1839, entering into a self-imposed exile that would last almost thirty-two years. Catlin's Indian Gallery opened in Egyptian Hall in London on February I, 1840. His success was immediate, and his efforts were cxtravagcntly praised by ]Jrcss and public alike. Unfortunately, financial success was just as elusive in London as it had been in New York. Attendance at the exhibition was large, but so were expenses. George just managed to keep income and expenses equal. In addition to attempting to make the exhibition profitable, Catlin was also seeking subscriptions for the book he hoped to publish from the notes accumulated during his travels among the Indians. Letters and JVoles ou the 1\1anners, Customs, and Condition of the N orth American Indians was published in October, 1841, and was well received. As in the case of the exhibition, the sales of the book were just enough to offset the expenses incurred in its publication. The Catlin family was growing (George now had his wife, three daughters, and one son to support), and money was scarce. It was decided to take the Gallery to Paris in the spring of 1845 in the hope of finding a buyer or auracting large enough crowdS to provide some profit. The exhibition of Catlin's Indian Gallery in Paris drew large crowds and an audience with King Louis Philippe, who was a great admirer of Catlin. Tragedy struck in July, 1845, when C lara died of pneumonia. ln an ef£ort to erase the painful memory of Paris, George moved his children and the collection to Brussels; but illness among the Indians who had accompanied him forced the cancellation of the exhibition. The Catlin family returned to Paris in F,ebruary, 18-16, and George began work on fifteen paintings commissioned by Louis J'hilippe. So pleasfd was the King with these that he ordered a series of paintings depicting the exploration of the ~Iississippi River by La Salle and Hennepin. Again tragedy struck, this time in the form of typhoid fcvt:r in late summer. Ahhough the entire Catlin family was stricken, only George's son failed to recover. Late in 1847, George began work on the La Salle series commissioned by the King. The twenty-nine paintings required seven months' effort on the part of the artist, and the series was completed just as the Revolution of 1848 e1·upted. The King was forced to fl ee; Catlin was urged to leave also because of his friendship with the King. The result of this fiasco was that Catlin never recei\'Cd payment of any kind for the La Salle paintings. Catlin was fortunate in that he and his daughters escaped France and arrived safely in London with the enti1·e Indian Gallery intact. Catlin was now deaf, impover ished, and saddened by the loss of his wife and son. In an effort to obtain money, he published Notes 011 Eight l'em·s' Tmue/ a11d lieside11 ce ill Europ e late in 1848. The book sold well but was not a financial success. D eeply in debt, Catlin was arrested a nd imprisoned. His late wife's brother, Dudley Gregory, arrived and obtained George's release from prison and took the three CatHn daughters home to the United States. George returned to Paris. There J oseph Harrison of Philadelphia, one of Catlin's largest cnditors, came to his aid, paid off most of the debts, took possession of the Indian Gallery in order to satisfy Catlin's debt to him, and shipped the entire collection to the United States where it was stored in his boiler factory. Catlin became interested in the legend s he h ad heard about Brazil and South America. Between the years 1853 and 1858, he made two trips to South America, one o f which took him along the western coast of the United States. Throughout the course o ( both j ourneys, he painted and made copious notes about the natives who inhabited the areas he visited. George returned to Paris in 1858 and remained lor two years TCJJainting from memory many of the works in his original collection. In 1860, Catlin moved to Brussels and began to write. His Life Amongs t the Itulians had been published in 1857. L ast R ambles Amongst the Indians of the Rocky AI ountains and the Andes and 0-Kee-JJa both appeared in 1867. He still painted; he was planning his return to the United States with a collection as large as the original Gallery. This second collection was known as Catlin's Cartoon Collection. In late 1870, George Catlin arrived in New York City. His exhibition was opened, but attendance was small and publicity was scarce. Finally, an old friend, Joseph H enry, Director of the recently-created Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., invited Catlin to hang his collection there. Catlin arrived in W ashington in the fall of 1871 a nd was given a room in one of the towers o f the Smithsonian, where he con tinued to paint until. in October, 1876, he became ill. H e was taken to his daughters in J ersey City, New J ersey, where he died on D ecember 23, 1872, wondering a loud, "What will b Ecome o[ my Gallery?"• The original Catlin's Indian Gallery was given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1879 by the heirs o[ Joseph Harrison. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City purchased the Catlin's Cartoon Collection from Elizabeth Catlin, the artiSL's daughter, in 1912; most of these paintings are now in the collection of .Mr. Pa ul Mellon. In addition to the two major collectio ns listed above, there a re a num ber of smaller collections of Catlin's works located in museums a nd libraries in the U nited States and Canada. 6 Donaldson, p. 717. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Catlin, George. Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. London: published by the author, 1844. ------· Last Rambles Amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1867. ------· Letters mul Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians. 2 vols. London: published by the author, 1841. ------· Life Amongst the Indians: A Book for Youths. New York: D. Apple ton & Company, 1857. ------· Notes on Eight Years' Tmuel and Residence in Europe. 2 vols. London: published by the author, 1848. ------· 0-Kee-pa: A R eligious Ceremony; arul Other Customs of the Mar~dans . London: Trubner & Company, 1867. DeVoto, Bernard. Across the Wide Missouri. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1947. Donaldson, Thomas. "The George Catlin Indian Gallery in the U.S. National Museum" in Annual R eport of the Smithsonian Institution for I 885. Ewers, John C. "George Catlin, Painter of Indians and the \Vest," in Annual R eport of the Smithsonian Institution for 1955 . Haberly, Loyd. Pursuit of the Horizon: A Life of George Catlin, Painter and R ecorder of the Arrw·ica n India11. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948. Halpin, ~farjorie. Catlin's Indian Gallery. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1965. 1\fcCrackJ,n, Harold. George Catlin and the Old Frontier. New York: The Dial Press, 1959. ------·· Portrait of the Old !Vest, with a Biographical Check List of lVestern Artists. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1952. Plate, Robert. Palette and T omahawk. New York: D. McKay Company, 1962. Roehm, Marjorie Catlin. The L etters of George Catlin and His Family. Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1966. CATALOGUE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION Dimensions are given in inches, height preceding width. All paintings in the exhibition are o il on canvas and are numbered according to the listing in Catlin's exhibition catalogue of 1840 (Catlin number). The paintings in this catalogue arc grouped by tribe or subject. The works reproduced in the catalogue arc indicated with an asterisk (*). ASSINIBOIN-1832 location: North of Jl!issouri River in present North Dakota and and !\fontana and adjacent areas of Canada. *l/ 474 Wi-jun-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light); Double portrait; the figure on the left was done in 1831 when \Vi.jun-jon, dressed in native attire, was en route to Washington for treaty talks; the figure on the right was done in 1832 and shows \Vi-jun-jon as he appeared on the return trip dressed in tlie uniform of a U .S. Army colonel-a gift from President Andrew Jackson. BLACKFOOT-1832 location: l'resent north-central l\lontana and southern Alberta, Canada. 2j l61 1\(edicinc man in curing costume; 29 x 24. CADD0-1834 location: Northern Texas. 3/ 589 Caddo Indians chasing buffalo, Cross Timbers, Texas; 19 Y2 x 27%. CHEYENNE-1832 location: Platte River Valley, present eastern Wyoming and Colorado. 4/ 143 Ne-hec-o-woo-tis, the Wolf on the Hill; 29 x 24. Chief of the tribe, this man has been known to own 100 horses at one time. *51 144 She who bathes her knees; 29 x 24. \Vife of Wolf on the Hill. CROW-1832 location: Yellowsone River Valley, present Montana. 6/ 166 Oo-je-en-a-he-a, the woman who lives in the bear's den; 29 x 24. The subject's hair has been cut off, signifying that she is in mourning. EASTERN DAKOTA (EASTERN SlOUX)-1835 location: Present western Minne sota, eastern North and South Dakota. 7/ 437 Dog dance at Fort Snelling; 19Y2 x 27%. TETON DAKOTA (WESTERN SIOUX)-1832 location: Present western Nebraska, South and North Dakota, eastern 1\·lontana and 'Vyo ming. *8/ 71 Tchan-dce, Tobacco; 29 x 24. Second chief of the Oglala diYision, Teton Dakota nation. 9/76 Ka-pcs-ka-da, the Shell; 29 x 24. A brave of the Oglala division, Teton Dakota nation. *10/ 86 Tah-teck-a-da-hair, Steep Wind; 29 x 24. A brave ()[ the ''Bad Arrow Points Band" of the Teton Dakota nation. 12/ 447 Bear dance. Sioux preparing for a bear hunt. 13/ 475 Butte de i\lon (Hill of Death); 19Yz x 27Ys. Sioux buria l ground. 14 /'182 Band of Sioux moving camp with dogs and horses. *15/ 494 Sioux dog feast; 22 Ys x 27 Ys . A relig ious feast in a Sioux village 1,400 miles above St. Louis. 16/ 565 Sioux Indians on snowshoes, lancing buffaloes; 19 V1 x 27 Ys . :\IANDAN-1832 location: On Missouri River, North Dakota. 17/ 43 1 i\landan game of Tchu ng-kee; 191/z x 27 Ys . The principal and most valued game of the .\tandans. Fh·c yea rs after Catlin's visit, the tribe was decimated by an epidemic of smallpox. LANDSCAPES, WILDLIFE AND H UNTI NG SCENES 18/ 419 Amclope shooting- 1/ 474 Wi-jun-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light); Double ponrait; the figure on the left was done in 1831 when \Vi-jun-jon, dressed in native attire, was en route to \Vashington for treaty talks; the flgure on the right was done in 1832 and shows \Vi-jun-jon as he appeared on the return trip dressed in the uniform of a U.S. Army colonel-a gift from President Andrew Jackson. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution 51 144 She who bathes her knees; 29 x 24. Wife of Wolf on the Hill. Counesy of lhc SmiLhsonian Inslilulion 8/ 71 Tchan-dee, Tobacco; 29 x 24. Second chief of the Oglala division, Teton Dakota nation. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Jnstinuion 10/ 86 Tah-teck-a-da-hair, Steep Wind; 29 x 24. A brave of the "Bad Arrow Points" Band of the Teton Dakota nation. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution 15/ 494 Sioux dog feast; 22~ x 27~. A religious feast in a Sioux village 1,400 miles above St. Louis. Courtesy or the Smithsonian Institution 19/'118 Indians on horscbark willt lances a ttacking the grizzly bear; 22YR x 27 YH. INDIAN PAINTINGS BY GEORGE CATLIN 1796-1872