Author Painting a Chief

GEORGE CATLIN, 1796-1872

Catlin received commissions to paint the country’s celebrities including Sam Houston and Dolly Madison. He realized after he saw a delegation of Indians in route to Washington how he wanted to shape his career. Catlin was concerned that the Indian’s way of life was quickly vanishing thanks partly to being exposed to smallpox and whiskey – gifts of the white European settlers. He vowed “nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country, and of becoming their historian.”

Catlin spent eight years traveling among the 48 North American tribes. He began his journey in 1830 when he traveled with General William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, up the Mississippi on a peacekeeping mission. He produced more than 500 paintings and collected a substantial group of artifacts.