George Catlin

author

George Catlin

1796–1872

Drawn west by a desire to record lives he believed were disappearing, this lawyer-turned-artist created one of the best-known visual records of Native peoples in 19th-century North America. His portraits, travel writing, and "Indian Gallery" helped shape how many eastern American and European audiences imagined the frontier.

4 Audiobooks

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 2) With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 2) With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

by George Catlin

Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection

Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection

by George Catlin

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2) With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2) With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

by George Catlin

Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection

Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection

by George Catlin

About the author

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on July 26, 1796, George Catlin first trained as a lawyer before leaving the profession to pursue art. He became known as a self-taught painter and writer who was especially interested in documenting Native American communities, an interest that grew into the project he called his Indian Gallery.

In the 1830s, Catlin traveled repeatedly through the American West, including along the Missouri River, painting portraits and scenes of daily life, ceremonies, and landscapes. He later exhibited this large body of work in the United States and Europe and published books based on his travels, making his work widely influential as both art and historical record.

Catlin died in Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 23, 1872. Today he remains an important and complicated figure: his paintings preserve details that might otherwise have been lost, while modern readers and museums also consider the limits of his perspective and the ways his work reflected the attitudes of his time.