Self Portrait
George Catlin
(July 26, 1796 - December 23, 1872)
George Catlin (July 26, 1796 - December 23, 1872) was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.
Catlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Following a brief career as a lawyer, he produced two major collections of paintings of American Indians and published a series of books chronicling his travels among the native peoples of North, Central and South America.
Claiming his interest in America's 'vanishing race' was sparked by a visiting American Indian delegation in Philadelphia, he set out to record the appearance and customs of America's native people.
Sioux Indians hunting buffalo, 1835
Buffalo Hunt, plate 7 from Catlin's North American Indian Collection
Teepee of the Crow Tribe, c.1850
The O-Kee-Pa self-torture religious ceremony of the Mandan tribe, from a painting of c.1835
Native Americans killing a bear
Osceola or 'Rising Sun', a Seminole Leader, 1838, illustration from 'The Indian Tribes of North America
A Buffalo bull grazing
A Comanche family outside their teepee, 1841
Comanche warrior with a shield, lance and bow and arrows, c.1835
'Mint', a Mandan Indian girl, 1832
Sioux Buffalo Dance
A Mandan tribal dance representing 'Day' and 'Night', from a painting of c.1835