I WILL GIVE BRAINLIST Why would the artist George Catlin’s paintings from the 1800s be considered a form of artistic documentation?

READ FROM THIS
George Catlin was a lawyer, author, and artist, born in New York in 1796. As a child, he was interested in the stories his mother told about American Indians. His interest was further sparked at the age of nine, when he met an Oneida Indian while out exploring the woods.

Catlin, an attorney, liked to draw. He had a habit of sketching participants in the courtroom and eventually decided to become a full-time artist. In the 1830s, he traveled from New York to several areas of the West and Midwest in order to study and paint a number of American Indian tribes. He wanted to record what they looked like, their customs, and their culture. Catlin is widely regarded as the first artist to depict Plains Indians in their own territories.

Catlin spent between six and eight years traveling between tribes in the West and his home in New York. During this time, he created more than 500 paintings of tribal life. He combined his paintings into a collection that he called his Indian Gallery, and he traveled with the exhibit through Europe and many East Coast cities in the United States. He also wrote a two-volume book describing his travels in Europe.

After Catlin’s death in 1872, his widow donated his available work to the Smithsonian Museum. The Indian Gallery has been on display as a special exhibit at the museum and is a highly valued collection. According to museum curator George Gurney, “His collection is the largest of pre-photographic material of American Indians. It’s an incredible record.”