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Discovering George Catlin – Gloria Mbemba-Servajean

Art has always embodied ecological conditions, both materially and conceptually, whether its makers recognized it or not, for their work cannot help but bear traces of some connection with the earth, its ecosystems, and its many inhabitants’ human and nonhuman. (Braddock and Kusserow, 2018)

George Catlin was an American traveller, adventurer, lawyer, author, and painter. He was specialised in the representation of Native Americans portraits in the Old West. He was born in the late 18th century, in a context of post American Revolution, an on-going conquest of the West and an on-going slavery. George Catlin was fascinating by the Indigenous culture and travelled into the Great Plains during the 1830s. He wrote and portrayed the life of Natives in their western native lands. He took himself several years to learn how to draw. He started to paint in Philadelphia. Catlin wanted to be devoted to a whole lifetime of enthusiasm. The arrival of the Indians is the moment where he began to be fascinated by their beauty. He described them as “classic beauty”, in Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians. He explains that Indians captured the admiration of people. Catlin was left with regret when Indians were just passing by in his town before going to Washington D.C. He explained that he started to explore and travel through the “Far West” in 1832. He went exploring with a light heart saying that it was his duty as an historian to relate the stories of Natives because they were rapidly passing away from the face of the earth. In their culture, Indigenous tried to keep records of things, names, and people, but because of the killings, it was hard to hold onto a legacy. So, Catlin wanted to be the messiah of their thoughts and customs. Catlin tried to portray them, by becoming an Indian in respecting “the red men” as he called them. He played their games and amusements to be familiar with their superstitions and mysteries. He perceived them as “lords of the forest”, as “they are travelling to the shades of their fathers, towards the setting sun;”. He was one the first to travel along the Mississippi. He was seeking for the unknown. He gave Indigenous people an important place. When the Indian removal Act[1] was signed in 1830, it pushed more than 40,000 Indians to abandon their home and relocate in “Indian” homes, meaning the state of Oklahoma.

The consequences of the journey were drastic, as 4,000 people died of disease, starvation, and exposure to extreme weather. This act is inscribed in the conquest of the West. American settlers/colons had this vision and idea of California. Some even thought that California was an island. Settlers wanted to find gold and fertile lands and created a railroad to join the Eastern part of the U.S.A. and the Western lands. This is called the Trail of Tears. It lasted for around twenty years, though it had continued in the late 19th century with the construction of the Yosemite Railroad.

Put the land aside for protection. (Abraham Lincoln)

Those are the words of the abolitionist leader Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the U.S. Civil War. Though his will has been to protect Yosemite Park, it has not been without any consequences. The U.S. Civil War has been a turning point for African Americans, for American history, but even for the conquest of the West. Post-Civil War, the completion of the Railroad will want to value the visit and protection of Yosemite Park. The construction of the Railroad gave a new image, where the United States would become a unified nation, as the North and South had been opposed. It combined the idea of progress and technology, but it also gave access to the West. The Railroad capital and its access to the land, have impacted and shaped the environment during its construction. But at what cost? A workforce was needed to build the road and most of the workers happened to be Chinese. It obliged the workers to destroy landscapes and some trees were chopped as well. This has been a massive intervention on the environment. Unfortunately, Indigenous people were not being consulted and were left aside when economical decisions were made.

The style of Catlin would be more speed and accuracy, as the pigment was watercolour thin. In The New York Times article “Playing Tricks With Reality and Realism”, Catlin is described as someone who considered that Indians were a doomed population and that he used the notion of their innocence and endangerment to promote his work. A statement, which I do not particularly agree with. I feel that it is a great legacy to have someone that keeps records of living proof. Artworks contribute to the proof we have of their existence at a particular time. Their homes have been destroyed during the 19th century and most of them have been killed since the arrival of colons. I feel that it is also a great chance to have people who care enough to understand one’s culture. People eager to learn and to share, out of respect for where they found their inspiration is something that is brave enough to be recognised. In his Letter and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the Northern American Indians, Catlin is expressing his respect towards the Indigenous and is deeply thankful for their welcome.

I designed, also, to procure their costumes, and a complete collection of their manufactures and weapons and to expose them in a Gallery unique. (Catlin, 1842)

According to Catlin, this Gallery will be beneficial for the instruction of future ages. Very few people know how they live, how they dress, how they worship, their actions, their customs, their beliefs, and their amusements. The idea Catlin insisted on, is the fact that Indians were once a happy and flourished people: “They were sixteen million people” (Catlin, 1842). He describes them as loyal and open-minded. The people that Caucasians believed to be their enemy, were actually the ones that welcomed Catlin with open arms.

He had some strong opinions of the conquest of the west explaining that their population’s extinction is the result of the White men’s cupidity produced by the use of whiskey and the vices of addiction and greed. The myth that the White man had on Indigenous, is the savageries they were doing themselves. This is an idea that Catlin underlines himself when he says that it is our ignorance and dread of fear of these people that has therefore, given a new definition to the adjective and nearly the whole civilized world apply the word “savage”, as expressive of the most ferocious, cruel, and murderous character that can be described.

And the history and customs of such people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life, shall prevent me from visiting their country, and of becoming their historian… (Catlin, 1842).

Catlin trusts the reader with his thoughts to be true, that the Indian in his Native state is an honest, faithful, brave, warlike, relentless, yet honourable and religious man. For Catlin, it is his duty to talk about their history, as they are not mentioned. During the politic context of the 19th century, Indians have been relocated from their homes and killed by military, so their voices were not heard.

Another striking element is the fact that all of his portraits shared a same neutrality. They are described by Catlin as “silent and stoic”. Indigenous he painted all have the same expressions. They do not seem happy, neither sad but they do express a form of indifference and passiveness. They are often represented looking forward but not at Catlin. It gives us a feeling of foreignism and farness. It feels like they are represented as people who are not from around here, who belong to another world, and that is the paradox. They are often characterised as travellers, though they were the one to have stayed in their own lands. They believed that the purpose of their life is just to be here, an alive soul.

They do not think that people have a purpose but to contribute to the ecosystem, but to be in harmony with it. For example, Aboriginal populations from Australia believe that people and nature are linked and bound to live together. This is called a totemic belief.

Fig.1: George Catlin,
Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull’ s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe, 1832
(©Smithsonian American Art Museum)

For example, this painting of George Catlin is called Stu-mick-o- súcks, Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe (Fig.1). Stu-mick-o- súcks is a group of words of the Blackfoot language. The Blackfoot language is also called Siksika and was spoken by the Niitsitapi people. This population lives is the north-western plains of North America. This language has a different alphabet, that uses characters. A Stu-mick-o- súcks literally refers to Head Chef. This is an oil on canvas portrait, exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C, United States. These are the palettes he used (Fig.2):

Fig.2: Palettes used by G. Catlin

This painting represents the Head Chef of the tribe. Catlin describes the Head Chef as a respectable man. He was fifty years of age and was distinguished Indian. Catlin insisted on details in this portrait. For this painting, the Head Chef was in company of his warriors and tribe. Indians were in comfortable clothes, that were the representations of the battles they had won. There is a distinctive mode in each tribe of ornament or stitching or embroidery. They would recognise one another with what they had on themselves. For example, the Head Chef is dressed with a tunic of deer skins, placed together with the necks of the skins downwards. The skins of the hinds’ legs are stitched together. The seam is covered in width. The leggings are down the outer side of the leg, from the hip to the feet. All these are ornated in porcupine quills and fringed with scalp locks. These locks are produced from scalp and worn as trophies. In his hand, he is holding a pipe, wound his braids.

His legacy is very diverse. Some argue that his works are as powerful as ambiguous. His paintings do contribute to the legacy of Indigenous and their history, but they are sometimes primitive in their executions, some may say. They are even sometimes inaccurate. His thoughts expressed on Letters and Notes, on the Manners, Customs and the Condition of the Indian American (Catlin, 1841), reveals of a social injustice but his portraits rarely speak of the same force. They have said that his works fostered the 19th century America’s romanticization of the vanishing American and disappearing the Indian Americans.

 

Gloria Mbemba-Servajean – Master 2 Etudes anglophones


[1] This act was adopted under President Andrew Jackson.


Bibliography


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
mastersfdl (6 juin 2023). Discovering George Catlin – Gloria Mbemba-Servajean. Investigatio. Consulté le 11 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/ra8d


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