George Harrison

George Harrison

George Catlin (July 26to, 1796 to December 23, 1872) was an artist and writer who traveled the Far West and painted Native Americans. His paintings and books recorded their appearance, customs and culture.

Catlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the fifth of fourteen brothers and sisters. His father was a lawyer who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and in 1817 sent him to study law at Litchfield, Connecticut. But Catlin was more interested in the art of law and, after practicing for A couple of years he moved to Philadelphia where he began painting portraits. Catlin never formally studied art was entirely self-taught, but still won the committees, including a request to paint the portrait of Governor DeWitt Clinton in Albany, NY. It was on a visit to the governor's mansion and met his future wife, Clara Bartlett Gregory. The couple married in 1828 and had three daughters and a son.

In 1830, Catlin set out in his great quest to record the Native American way of life. To the next eight years he traveled the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and painted Native American tribes on the borders of the great frontier. Painting in harsh conditions, portraits faithfully rituals, dress, dances and hunting skills of tribes like the Sioux, Cree, Omaha, Pawnee and Blackfoot. His interpretations were so faithful the ornaments, beads and headdresses worn by his subjects were reproduced to the smallest detail. Took handwritten notes and drawings frequent. At the end of this first voyage, which had produced 520 oil paintings and had amassed a large collection of Native American artifacts.

Catlin returned to the coast this in 1837, where he gathered his paintings, drawings, objects and costumes into a traveling show he called his "Indian Gallery". He took the show to New York, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, lecturing and telling stories of his life among the Indian tribes. He also went to Washington, where he hoped to sell India to Gallery U.S. government, the ambition of his life, was that the works become part of a museum collection. But Congress did not approve the purchase and did not exhibit good in Boston and Philadelphia. The second concert in New York also had poor attendance.

Following these disappointments, Catlin decided to Gallery from India to Europe and sail for England 1839. The exhibition opened in London in 1840 with much publicity. Catlin gave lectures and demonstrations of the practices of the native American hunting. Besides the splendid portraits, visitors to the exhibition can see weapons and costumes - including live performances were Native American dancers. The show was a great success and the Catlin family came to join him in London. In 1845, Catlin made the Indian Gallery in Paris, where his wife and son were killed.

Catlin was in Europe after the death of his wife, living there until 1852 when bankruptcy forced him to hand over to the Gallery of India to Joseph Harrison, a businessman from Philadelphia. Harrison stores jobs at its factory in Philadelphia and Catlin spent the next 20 years trying to recreate the Gallery of India from his notes and sketches.

After its bankruptcy, Catlin returned to his roots, returning to the U.S. and travel to South America, where he spent the next six years traveling and painting the Indian peoples. He traveled to the Pacific coast of America all the way to Alaska. Catlin, in 1860 he returned to Brussels, Belgium, where he lived for ten years before returning to New York in 1870 where he died in 1872. After his death, the widow of Joseph Harrison donated the gallery of India to the Smithsonian Institution.

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