At the age of
30, in 1830 a young curious artist named George Catlin set out into the unknown
Western United States in search of knowledge and the experience of meeting and
painting the Native American’s he meets along his travels. Only 23 years
before had the West just begun to be explored by Lewis and Clark who were sent
by Thomas Jefferson on a three-year mission to discover the newly attained
Louisiana Purchase.(Smithsonian) “’ If my life be spared, nothing shall stop me
from visiting every nation of Indians on the Continent of North America.’ With
these words George Catlin staked his artistic claim. He was the first great
painter to travel beyond the Mississippi to paint the Indian.”(Smithsonian)
Catlin’s interest in the Native Americans seems unique and interesting for this
time period where so many people feared Native Americans.
Catlin’s journey to paint the Native
Americans began in 1830 when he went to St. Louis to meet explorer William
Clark to learn as much as he could about the Native American’s before he began
his adventure. Once in the West, Catlin was faced with a new challenge. The
Native American’s were not all being relocated by the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act was a law signed on May
28, 1830 by President Andrew Jackson that gave the President power to trade
unsettled land to the West for Native American land in what was the current
United States. The catch to this law was that the Native American’s had no
option whether they left or not. Although a few of the times peacefully made
the transition to other land, others were forced off their land. An example of
this was the Trail of Tears which was the path the Cherokees were forced to
take from their old land to their new land, over 4,000 lost their lives along
the way. (Primary Documents in American History)
In 1832, Catlin’s real journey began as
he set out to begin painting the Native Americans he would meet along the way. By
the end of his travels Catlin had painted “more than 500 portraits, scenes and
landscapes and accumulated an astonishing collection of Indian artifacts.”
(Catlin) Many of the artifacts that Catlin collected on his journey were later
displayed in museums and galleries in major cities around the United States. I think
it is noble that Catlin shared what he had found because at that point it was
somewhat taboo to associate with the Native Americans.
Catlin’s art and collected artifacts gave people who
may have no firsthand experience with Native American’s a less biased picture
than what is being presented by the government. Catlin strikes me as a pioneer
of his time on spreading Knowledge of Native Americans and their culture.
Although many of Catlin’s art does not show happy smiling Native American’s it
does not picture them as harshly as many other photos. The Native American’s pictured in Catlin’s
painting appear to be strong and noble looking such as seen in “Stu-mick-o-súcks,
Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, head chief, Blood Tribe, 1832, George Catlin, oil
on canvas.” (Catlin, 1832) Catlin takes a more respectful approach by picturing
the Native American’s as they are instead of trying to make them appear scary
and dangerous through his art.
Catlin was a pioneer of his time because
he went against the norm and embraced and pictured the Native Americans as real
people and not the savages or barbarians that many thought them to be
Illustrations:
Catlin, George. Stu-mick-o-súcks,
Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, head chief, Blood Tribe, 1832, . 1832. Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Wishington, DC. George Catlin and His Indian Gallery.
Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
Catlin, George. Self Portrait.
N.d. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Smithsonian
American Art Institue. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Reference:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, George
Catlin / American Art. Retrieved January 30, 2014,
from http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=782
Primary
Documents in American History. (n.d.). Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents
of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress).
Retrieved January 30, 2014, from
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html
