Catlin, George

Catlin, George (1796-1872), American painter and writer, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, whose art was self-taught. In 1823 he gave up the practice of law and established himself as a portraitist in Philadelphia. From 1824 to 1829, Catlin painted portraits in Washington, D.C. and in Albany, New York State. After meeting a tribal delegation of Native Americans from the Far West, he became eager to preserve a record of vanishing types and customs of the Native Americans, and travelled for years in North and South America, painting and sketching hundreds of portraits, and scenes of villages, religious rituals, games, and Native Americans at work. He stimulated popular interest in Native American culture by publicly exhibiting his work and by presenting groups of Native Americans to audiences in the United States and Europe. Most of his paintings are in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The American Museum of Natural History in New York owns about 700 of his sketches. Catlin also wrote and illustrated Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians (2 vols., 1841), Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio (1844), and My Life Among the Indians (1867). His work is a valuable source of historical information.