View source for George Catlin

{{short description|American painter and adventurer (1796–1872)}}
{{Other people|George Catlin}}
{{Distinguish|George Carlin}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = George Catlin
| image              = William Fisk - George Catlin - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption            = ''George Catlin'' by [[William Fisk (painter)|William Fisk]], 1849
| birth_date         = {{birth date |1796|7|26}}
| birth_place        =  [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date         =  {{death date and age |1872|12|23|1796|7|26}}
| death_place        = [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], U.S.
| alma_mater         = [[Litchfield Law School]]
| occupation         = Lawyer<br />Painter<br />Author
| notable_works      = 
| style              = 
| spouse             = {{marriage|Clara Bartlett Gregory|1828|1845|reason=died}}
| children           = 4
| signature          = George Catlin signature.svg
}}
'''George Catlin''' ({{IPAc-en|k|æ|t|l|I|n}} {{respell|KAT|lin}};<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony |date=n.d. |website=[[Denver Art Museum]] |url=https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/edu/object/cutting-scene-mandan-o-kee-pa-ceremony |ref={{sfnref|Denver Art Museum|n.d.}} |access-date=21 May 2025 |archive-date=July 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250726182832/https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/edu/object/cutting-scene-mandan-o-kee-pa-ceremony |url-status=live }}</ref> July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872)<ref name=brit>{{cite web
|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Catlin
|title=George Catlin
|access-date=2020-06-29
|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
}}</ref> was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in the [[American frontier]]. Traveling to the [[Western United States|American West]] five times during the 1830s, Catlin wrote about and painted portraits that depicted the life of the [[Plains Indians]]. 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 were 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 [[Buffalo, New York|City of Buffalo]].<ref name="Flick2003">{{cite book|author1=Laurence M. Hauptman|author2=George Hamell|editor=Alexander Clarence Flick|title=New York History: Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-wnAQAAMAAJ&q=%22vanishing%20race%22|volume=84|year=2003|publisher=The Association|page=125|chapter=George Catlin: The Iroquois Origins of His Indian Portrait Gallery|quote=...nevertheless, the artist, who viewed himself as a visual historian documenting a "vanishing race," produced a wide array of portraits and landscapes that provide us with a partial glimpse into Indian Country from the late 1820s until the artist's death in 1872.}}</ref><ref name="Catlin1842">{{cite book|author=George Catlin|title= Letters and Notes on the Customs and Manners of the North American Indians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E00OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA16|volume=I|year=1842|publisher=Tilt and Bogue, Fleet Street|location=London|page=16}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Self-portrait by George Catlin. Age 28.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait, aged 28]]
Catlin was born in 1796 in [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]].<ref name=brit/><ref name=lhsgs>{{cite web
|url=https://ledger.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/532
|title=Litchfield Historical Society: The Ledger-George Catlin
|access-date=2020-08-02
|publisher=[[Litchfield, Connecticut#History|Litchfield Historical Society]]
|archive-date=November 29, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129011945/https://ledger.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/532
|url-status=live
}}</ref> While growing up, George encountered "trappers, hunters, explorers and settlers who stayed with his family on their travels west."<ref name=lhsgs/> Catlin was also intrigued by stories told to him by his mother, Polly Sutton, who had been captured by Indians during the 1778 [[Battle of Wyoming]] in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Reich2008">{{cite book | last=Reich | first=Susanna | title=Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin | publisher=Clarion Books | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-618-71470-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOxrflrhRMkC | access-date=2023-05-08 | page=}}</ref> Like his father, Catlin trained at [[Litchfield Law School]] when he was 17, although he disliked the field of law.<ref name=lhsgs/> He was admitted to [[Bar (law)|the Bar]] in 1819 and practiced law for two years before giving it up to travel and study art.<ref name=lhsgs/>

In 1823, he studied art in [[Philadelphia]] and became known for his work as a [[portrait]]ist.<ref name=lhsgs/> After a meeting with "tribal delegation of Indians from the western frontier, Catlin became eager to preserve a record of Native American customs and individuals."<ref name=lhsgs/>

==Career==
===Travels===
[[File:George Catlin's travels in North America, 1830-1855.jpg|thumb|Catlin's travels in [[North America]] between 1830 and 1855]]
Catlin began his journey in 1830 when he accompanied Governor [[William Clark]] on a diplomatic mission up the [[Mississippi River]] into [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] territory.<ref name=lhsgs/> [[St. Louis]] became Catlin's base of operations for five trips he took between 1830 and 1836, eventually visiting fifty tribes. Two years later he ascended the [[Missouri River]] more than 3000&nbsp;km (1900 miles) to [[Fort Union (North Dakota)|Fort Union]] Trading Post, near what is now the North Dakota-Montana border, where he spent several weeks among indigenous people who were still relatively untouched by European culture.

He visited eighteen tribes, including the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], [[Omaha (tribe)|Omaha]], and [[Ponca]] in the south and the [[Mandan]], [[Hidatsa]], [[Cheyenne]], [[Crow Nation|Crow]], [[Assiniboine]], and [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfeet]] to the north. There he produced the most vivid and penetrating portraits of his career. During later trips along the [[Arkansas]], [[Red River of the South|Red]], and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers, as well as visits to [[Florida]] and the [[Great Lakes]], he produced more than 500 paintings and gathered a substantial collection of artifacts.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}

===Indigenous gallery===
[[File:George Catlin - Sha-có-pay, The Six, Chief of the Plains Ojibwa - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Sha-có-pay]], The Six, Chief of the [[Plains-Ojibwa|Plains Ojibwa]]'', an 1832 portrait at [[Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site|Fort Union]] that is now housed in the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
[[File:George Catlin - Wah-ro-née-sah, The Surrounder, Chief of the Tribe - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Wah-ro-née-sah, The Surrounder, Chief of the Otoe Tribe'', an 1832 portrait now housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum]]
When Catlin returned east in 1838, he assembled the paintings and numerous artifacts into his Indian Gallery, and began delivering public lectures that drew on his personal recollections of life among the American Indians. Catlin traveled with his Indian Gallery to major cities such as [[Pittsburgh]], [[Cincinnati]], and [[New York City]]. He hung his paintings salon style, side by side and one above another. Visitors identified each painting by the number on the frame, as listed in Catlin's catalogue. Soon after, he began a lifelong effort to sell his collection to the U.S. government. The touring Indian Gallery did not attract the paying public Catlin needed to stay financially sound, and the [[United States Congress]] rejected his initial petition to purchase the works.

In 1839, Catlin took his collection across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] for a tour of European capitals. As a showman and [[entrepreneur]], he initially attracted crowds to his Indian Gallery in London, Brussels, and Paris. The French critic [[Charles Baudelaire]] remarked on Catlin's paintings, "He has brought back alive the proud and free characters of these chiefs, both their nobility and manliness."<ref>Eisler, ''The Red Man's Bones'', p. 326.</ref>

Catlin wanted to sell his Indian Gallery to the U.S. government to have his life's work preserved intact. His continued attempts to persuade various officials in Washington, D.C. to buy the collection failed. In 1852, he was forced to sell the original Indian Gallery, now 607 paintings, due to personal debts. The industrialist Joseph Harrison acquired the paintings and artifacts, which he stored in a factory in Philadelphia, as security.

Catlin spent the last 20 years of his life trying to re-create his collection, and recreated more than 400 paintings.<ref name = "smithsonianamericanartmuseum">{{Cite web
| title = George Catlin
| work = Smithsonian American Art Museum
| access-date = 2012-08-10
| url = http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=782
| archive-date = September 8, 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150908070004/http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=782
| url-status = live
}}</ref> This second collection of paintings is known as the "Cartoon Collection", since the works are based on the outlines he drew of the works from the 1830s.

In 1841, Catlin published ''Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians'', in two volumes, with approximately 300 engravings. Three years later he published 25 plates, entitled ''Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio,'' and, in 1848, ''Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe''.

From 1852 to 1857, he traveled through [[South America|South]] and [[Central America]] and later returned for further exploration in the [[West Coast of the United States|American West Coast]]. The record of these later years is contained in ''Last Rambles amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes'' (1868) and ''My Life among the Indians'' (ed. by N. G. Humphreys, 1909). Paintings of his Spanish American Indians are published.<ref>''South American Indian paintings by George Catlin''. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1992.</ref>

In 1872, Catlin traveled to [[Washington, D.C.]] at the invitation of [[Joseph Henry]], the first secretary of the [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]]. Until his death later that year in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], Catlin worked in a studio at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s "Castle". In 1879, Harrison's widow donated his original Indian Gallery, more than 500 works, along with related artifacts, to the Smithsonian.

The nearly complete surviving set of Catlin's first Indian Gallery, painted in the 1830s, is now part of the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]'s collection. The associated Catlin artifacts are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, [[National Museum of Natural History]], [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]]. Some 700 sketches are held by the [[American Museum of Natural History]] in [[New York City]]. Some artifacts from Catlin are in the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]] collections. The [[Huntington Library]] in [[San Marino, California]] also holds 239 of Catlin's illustrations of both North and South American Indians, and other illustrative and manuscript material by Catlin.

The accuracy of some of Catlin's observations has been questioned. He claimed to be the first white man to see the [[Pipestone National Monument|Minnesota pipestone quarries]], and pipestone was named [[catlinite]]. Catlin exaggerated various features of the site, and his boastful account of his visit aroused his critics, who disputed his claim of being the first white man to investigate the quarry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanart.si.edu/catlin/catlin_highlights2.cfm?StartRow=24|title=SAAM: George Catlin and His Indian Gallery<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=28 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204852/http://americanart.si.edu/catlin/catlin_highlights2.cfm?StartRow=24|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Previous recorded white visitors include the [[Médard des Groseilliers|Groselliers]] and [[Pierre-Esprit Radisson|Radisson]], Father [[Louis Hennepin]], Baron de Lahontan, and others. [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Lewis and Clark]] noted the pipestone quarry in their journals in 1805. The fur trader [[Philander Prescott]] had written another account of the area in 1831.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/pipestone/history.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701184235/http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/pipestone/history.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2007|title=Pipestone County History – National Register of Historic Places Pipestone, Minnesota Travel Itinerary|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=28 April 2018}}</ref>

== Later works ==
After the sale of Catlin's Indian Gallery was rebuffed by the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in May 1838, Catlin felt he could find a more receptive audience in Europe and moved his family to England in November 1839, then to Paris in 1845, and eventually lived in some obscurity in [[Ostend]].

Le Chat d'Ostende is one of the most unusual paintings in Catlin's later oeuvre, dated 1868 and inscribed with the title on the stretcher. It has been called "a folky depiction of a playful cat that bore much of the same technique, wonderment and enthusiasm exhibited in the artist's later depiction of Native Americans."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-03-04|title=It Is Not Just The Sun That Shines Brightly in Florida Palm Beach Jewelry, Art And Antiques Show|url=https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/it-is-not-just-the-sun-that-shines-brightly-in-florida-palm-beach-jewelry-art-and-antiques-show/|access-date=2021-12-08|website=Antiques And The Arts Weekly|language=en-US|archive-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208213705/https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/it-is-not-just-the-sun-that-shines-brightly-in-florida-palm-beach-jewelry-art-and-antiques-show/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1871, after an absence of more than three decades, Catlin returned to the United States<ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains {{!}} CATLIN, GEORGE (1796-1872)|url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.art.013|access-date=2021-12-08|website=plainshumanities.unl.edu|archive-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208203907/http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.art.013|url-status=live}}</ref> and likely brought back the painting with him. 

It resurfaced in 1957 in the private collection of Lee B. Anderson, a pioneer collector of American art, and was subsequently sold at Christies for $47,000 on 24 May 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Catlin (1796-1872)|url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1792198|access-date=2021-12-08|website=www.christies.com|language=en|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209212418/https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1792198|url-status=live}}</ref> The painting reflects a playful quiet domesticity that contrasts sharply from the American bison that thundered across the Great Plains of the American West in the millions. The majestic long-haired cat itself bears some resemblance to a bison and exhibits a human-like face that may be a self-portrait given the play on words inherent in the subject matter and the artist's surname.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

==Observations on Native mouth breathing practices==
Catlin is also remembered for his research and writing on [[mouth breathing]], inspired by observations made during his travels.<ref name=on>{{cite journal
|title=George Catlin on Mouth Breathing
|date=1983
|pmid=6349025
|last1=Stool
|first1=S. E.
|journal=Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
|volume=5
|issue=2
|pages=123–128
}}</ref> This interest is linked to his non-fiction work, ''The Breath of Life'',<ref name=ht>{{cite book
|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011542471
|title=The breath of life, or mal-respiration, and its effects upon the enjoyments & life of man.
|year=1862
|access-date=2020-06-28
|publisher=[[HathiTrust]]
}}</ref> later retitled as ''Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life'', in 1862.<ref name=nestor48>{{cite book|last=Nestor|first=James | author-link =James Nestor|title=Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art|year=2020|isbn=978-0735213616 |page=48|publisher=RiverheadBooks}}</ref> It was based on his experiences traveling through the West, where he observed a consistent lifestyle habit among all of the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] communities he encountered: a preference for [[Obligate nasal breathing|nose breathing]] over mouth breathing. He also observed that they had perfectly straight teeth.<ref name=nestor49>{{cite book|last=Nestor|first=James | author-link =James Nestor|title=Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art|year=2020|isbn=978-0735213616 |page=49|publisher=RiverheadBooks}}</ref>

He repeatedly heard that this was because they believed that mouth breathing made an individual weak and caused disease, while nasal breathing made the body strong and prevented disease.<ref name=nestor49/> He observed that mothers repeatedly closed the mouth of their infants while they were sleeping, in order to instill nasal breathing as a habit.<ref name=nestor50>{{cite book|last=Nestor|first=James | author-link =James Nestor|title=Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art|year=2020|isbn=978-0735213616 |page=50|publisher=RiverheadBooks}}</ref> He wrote the book to document these observations, stating that "there is no person in society but who will find... improvement in health and enjoyment..." from keeping his or her mouth shut.<ref>p. 86, Catlin, George: ''Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life'', eighth edition, 1882, Trubner & Co., London</ref>

==Family and death==
[[File:Mrs. George Catlin (Clara Bartlet Gregory) MET DP169289 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A portrait of Clara Bartlett Gregory by Catlin, {{Circa|1830}}, now housed in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
George Catlin met Clara Bartlett Gregory in 1828 in her hometown of [[Albany, New York]]. She was eager to escape her family home, not getting along with her father's third wife. After a brief courtship, Clara and George married on May 11, 1828. She was 19, and Catlin was 32.<ref name="Eisler 2013 p. 57">{{cite book | last=Eisler | first=Benita | title=The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman | publisher=W. W. Norton | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-393-24086-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hH0FyvzBcEMC&pg=PA57 | access-date=2023-05-07 | page=57}}</ref> After their marriage, she accompanied him on one of his journeys west. They eventually had four children.<ref>[http://www.scienceviews.com/historical/georgecatlin.html ScienceViews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125035855/http://www.scienceviews.com/historical/georgecatlin.html |date=November 25, 2011 }} George Catlin: A Biography. Url visited on 21 March 2012</ref> Clara and his youngest son died of [[tuberculosis|consumption]] while visiting Paris in 1845.<ref>[http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5546018 Christie's] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111828/http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5546018 |date=March 4, 2016 }}: Lotnotes for the painting of Clara Bartlett Gregory Catlin. Url visited on 21 March 2012</ref>

Catlin died on December 23, 1872, aged 76 years in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]].<ref name=brit/> He is buried in [[Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn]], with his wife and two of their children.

==Honors==
* National Rivers Hall of Fame, inducted 2001<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rivermuseum.com/national-rivers-hall-of-fame/national-rivers-hall-of-fame-inductees/|title=National Rivers Hall of Fame Inductees|website=National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium|access-date=28 April 2018|archive-date=June 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624052705/http://www.rivermuseum.com/national-rivers-hall-of-fame/national-rivers-hall-of-fame-inductees/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame, inducted 2023<ref>{{Cite news |author=<!-- staff report --> |date=2023-03-25 |title=Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame announces inaugural class |url=https://www.timesleader.com/news/1603775/luzerne-county-arts-entertainment-hall-of-fame-announces-inaugural-class |access-date=2024-08-19 |work=Times Leader |language=en-US |archive-date=May 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517040100/https://www.timesleader.com/news/1603775/luzerne-county-arts-entertainment-hall-of-fame-announces-inaugural-class |url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Catlin and his work figure repeatedly in the 2010 novel ''Shadow Tag'' by [[Louise Erdrich]], where he is the subject of the unfinished doctoral dissertation by the character Irene America.<ref name=erdrich>{{cite web
|url=https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Shadow-Tag-by-Louise-Erdrich-3200294.php
|title='Shadow Tag,' by Louise Erdrich
|access-date=2020-06-29
|last=Frank
|first=Joan
|date=2010-02-07
|publisher=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]
|archive-date=July 3, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703024535/https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Shadow-Tag-by-Louise-Erdrich-3200294.php
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

His 1834 painting ''[[Comanche Feats of Horsemanship]]'' was featured in the second episode of the HBO drama series ''[[Watchmen (TV series)|Watchmen]]'', "[[Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship]]", which was named for the painting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://andscape.com/features/watchmen-episode-two-martial-feats-of-comanche-horsemanship/|title='Watchmen' episode two: 'Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship'|last=McDonald|first=Soraya Nadia|date=2019-10-28|website=[[Andscape]]|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-29|archive-date=July 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702052210/https://andscape.com/features/watchmen-episode-two-martial-feats-of-comanche-horsemanship/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="140" heights="140">
File:Osceola of Florida, Drawn on Stone by Geo. Catlin, from his Original Portrait WDL180.png|Osceola of  Florida, Drawn on Stone by Geo. Catlin, from his Original Portrait

File:Catlin Chief Four Bears.jpg|''Mah-to-toh-pe'' by George Catlin
File:George Catlin - Mrs. Putnam Catlin (Mary "Polly" Sutton) - 1939.2.1 - Smithsonian American Art Museum (cropped).jpg|''Mrs. Putnam Catlin (Mary "Polly" Sutton)'', 1825 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Little Bear Hunkpapa Brave George Catlin.jpeg|''Little Bear, Hunkpapa Brave'', 1832 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Oó-je-en-á-he-a SAAM-1985.66.166 1.jpg|''Oó-je-en-á-he‑a, Woman Who Lives in a Bear's Den'', 1832 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Sha-kó-ka, Mint SAAM-1985.66.134 1.jpg|''Sha-kó-ka, Mint, a Pretty Girl'', 1832 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Pshán-shaw, Sweet-scented Gras SAAM-1985.66.125 1.jpg|''Pshán-shaw, Sweet-scented Grass, Twelve-year-old Daughter of Bloody Hand'', 1832 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:George Catlin - South Side of Buffalo Island, Showing Buffalo Berries in the Foreground - 1985.66.387 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|''South Side of Buffalo Island, Showing Buffalo Berries in the Foreground'', 1832 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:George Catlin - The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Cutting Scene, Mandan [[O-kee-pa]] Ceremony'', 1832 ([[Denver Art Museum]])
File:Mosholatubbee.jpg|''[[Mushulatubbee|Mó-sho-la-túb-bee]], He Who Puts Out and Kills, Chief of the [[Choctaw|Choctaw Tribe]]'', 1834
File:Káh-kée-tsee,_Thighs,_a_Wichita_Woman_SAAM-1985.66.58_1.jpg|''Káh-kée-tsee, Thighs, a Wichita Woman'', 1834
File:Shé-de-ah, Wild Sage, a Wichita Woman SAAM-1985.66.59 1.jpg|''Shé-de-ah, Wild Sage, a Wichita Woman'', 1834 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Comanche Feats of Horsemanship-George Catlin.jpg|''[[Comanche Feats of Horsemanship]]'', 1834–35
File:Ball play dance.jpg|''Ball-Play Dance'', {{circa|1835}} ([[Renwick Gallery]], Washington D.C.)
File:George Catlin, Ojibwa Portaging Around the Falls of St. Anthony, 1835-1836.jpg|''Ojibwa Portaging Around the Falls of St. Anthony'', 1835–1836 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:George Catlin - Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Wi-jún-jon]], Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light), Going To and Returning From Washington'', 1837–1839 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:George Catlin - Os-ce-o-lá, The Black Drink, a Warrior of Great Distinction - 1985.66.301 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|''[[Osceola|Os-ce-o-lá]], The Black Drink, a Warrior of Great Distinction'', 1838
File:George Catlin - Mick-e-no-páh, Chief of the Tribe - 1985.66.300 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|''Mick-e-no-páh, Chief of the Tribe'', 1838 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Joc-O-Sot The Walking Bear.jpg|''[[Joc-O-Sot]], The Walking Bear'', 1844 hand-colored lithograph by George Catlin
File:George Catlin Attacking the Grizzly Bear.jpg|''Attacking the [[Grizzly Bear]], no. 19'', 1844
File:Ru-ton-ye-wee-ma, Strutting Pigeon SAAM-1985.66.525 1.jpg|''Ru-ton-ye-wee-ma, Strutting Pigeon, Wife of White Cloud'', 1844 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Ru-ton-wee-me, Pigeon on the Wing SAAM-1985.66.526 2.jpg|''Ru-ton-wee-me, Pigeon on the Wing'', 1844 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Koon-za-ya-me, Female War Eagle SAAM-1985.66.528 1.jpg|''Koon-za-ya-me, Female War Eagle'', 1844
File:Buffalo Bull Grazing George Catlin 1845.jpeg|''Buffalo Bull Grazing,'' lithograph, 1845
File:George Catlin - Ball-play of the Choctaw--Ball Up - Google Art Project.jpg|''Ball-play of the Choctaw – Ball Up'', 1846–1850 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
File:Catlinpaint.jpg|''[[Tipis]]'', {{circa|1850}}
File:Ball players.jpg|''[[Lacrosse|Ball]] players,'' hand-colored lithograph, unknown date
File:Portrait of Chief Comcomly.jpg|''Portrait of Chief [[Comcomly]],'' unknown date
File:George Catlin's travels in South America, 1852-1858.jpg|'Mr Catlin's itinerary in South America, 1852–1858'
File:George Catlin- The Falls of Saint Anthony.jpg|''The Falls of Saint Anthony'', 1871, [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]]
</gallery>

==Works by Catlin==
* Catlin, George (1834). ''[https://www.georgecatlin.org/Comanche-Feats-Of-Martial-Horsemanship-1834.html Comanche Feats of Martial Horsemanship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223093142/https://www.georgecatlin.org/Comanche-Feats-Of-Martial-Horsemanship-1834.html |date=December 23, 2022 }}.'' Retrieved October 29, 2019.
* {{cite book |last=Catlin |first=George |title=[[Letters and Notes on the Customs and Manners of the North American Indians|Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Conditions of North American Indians: The Complete Volumes I and II: Illustrated]] |url= |year=1857 |publisher=Willis P. Hazard}}
* {{cite book |last=Catlin |first=George |title=Life Among the Indians |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeamongindian00catlrich |access-date=August 24, 2014 |year=1861 |publisher=Gall and Inglis |location=London}}
* Catlin, George (1862). ''[[iarchive:b24923382|The Breath of Life]]'' (later retitled as ''[[iarchive:b28114383|Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life]]'').
* {{cite book |last=Catlin |first=George |title=Illustrations of the manners, customs & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_26855 |access-date=August 23, 2014 |year=1876 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=London |isbn=978-1543245981}}
* {{cite book |last=Catlin |first=George |title=Illustrations of the manners, customs & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 |url=https://archive.org/details/illmannerscust02catlrich |access-date=August 23, 2014 |year=1876 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=London |isbn=	978-1543246858}}

==See also==
* [[Catlin Hall, Wilkes College]]
* [[Chief Mahaska]]
* [[Mato-tope]]
* {{section link|Benjamin O'Fallon|Collector}}, a friend, patron and collector of Catlin's work

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited bibliography ==
===Books===
*{{Cite book | last=Conn |first=Steven |title=History's Shadow: Native Americans and Historical Consciousness in the Nineteenth Century | publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2004 | isbn=0-226-11494-5}}
*{{Cite book | last1=Dippe |first1=Brian |first2=Christopher |last2=Mulvey |first3=Joan |last3=Carpenter Troccoli |first4=Therese Thau |last4=Heyman |title=George Catlin and His Indian Gallery| publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum and W. W. Norton & Company|year=2002 | isbn=0-393-05217-6}}
*{{Cite book | last=Eisler |first=Benita |title=The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman | publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2013 | isbn=978-0-393-06616-6}}
*{{Cite book|title=[[Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art]]|last=Nestor|first=James|publisher=Riverhead Books |year=2020|isbn= 978-0735213616 }}
* {{cite book | last=Reich | first=Susanna | title=Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin | publisher=Clarion Books | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-618-71470-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOxrflrhRMkC }}
*{{Cite book | last=Vaughn |first=William |title=Encyclopedia of Artists | publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 | isbn=0-19-521572-9}}

===Articles===
*[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22George+Catlin%22 George Catlin on Mouth Breathing] at [[PubMed]]

===Documents===
*[https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8db86hx/ George Catlin papers and illustrations] at The [[Huntington Library]]
*[http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/nby_eeayer/id/47766 George Catlin letters, 1827–1870] at The [[Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois]]
*[http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.sc.catlinpapers.xml;route=ksrlead;brand=ksrlead;query= Guide to the George Catlin Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919133052/http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.sc.catlinpapers.xml;route=ksrlead;brand=ksrlead;query= |date=2015-09-19 }} at [[University of Kansas]]
*[https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435 George Catlin papers, 1821–1904] at The [[Smithsonian Institution]]

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{EB1911 poster|Catlin, George}}
*[https://ledger.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/532 George Catlin Biography] at [[Litchfield, Connecticut#History|Litchfield Historical Society]]
*[https://americanart.si.edu/artist/george-catlin-782 George Catlin Biography] at The [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]
*[https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1113.html George Catlin] at The [[National Gallery of Art]]
*[https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/george-catlin George Catlin] at The [[Virginia Museum of Fine Arts]]
*[https://mona.unk.edu/mona/george-catlin-mona-collection/ George Catlin: MONA collection artwork] at The [[Museum of Nebraska Art]]
*[https://nac.library.cornell.edu/exhibition/illustratedworks/index.html George Catlin] at [[Cornell University Library]]
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=George Catlin}}
* {{Librivox author |id=17928}}
* [https://missouriartists.org/person/morem45/ Missouri Remembers: Artists in Missouri through 1951]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catlin, George}}
[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:1796 births]]
[[Category:1872 deaths]]
[[Category:American frontier painters]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:Artists of the American West]]
[[Category:Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery]]
[[Category:Litchfield Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Native Americans in art]]
[[Category:Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Writers from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:Painters from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Artists from Pennsylvania]]