George CatlinUSA, 1796–1872Co-ee-há-jo, a Chief
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Washington, D.C., USA
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In January 1838, George Catlin traveled to Fort Moultrie, near Charleston, South Carolina, to paint the portraits of chiefs and warriors who were imprisoned for their involvement in the Seminole War. Among them was Seminole chief Co-ee-há-jo, and the war’s celebrated leader, Osceola. To gain access to the men required the intervention of the secretary of war, who ordered the fort’s commanding officer to provide any assistance that Catlin needed. Time was of the essence since Osceola had fallen ill and was feared to be dying. Catlin got his portraits of Co-ee-há-jo and Osceola, who died only a few days later. Here, Catlin recorded the pattern in the chief’s robe and the ruffled sleeves of his European shirt. (Gurney and Heyman, eds., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, 2002)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
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- Inventarnummer
- 1985.66.304
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- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Billede: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0
Imens i livet hos George Catlin
Hele livet1830–1836
Five journeys into the American West
St. Louis was his base for the five trips and the steamer Yellowstone of the American Fur Company his first transport; he visited 48 tribes in all (other accounts say about fifty). On trips along the Arkansas, Red and Mississippi rivers, in Florida and around the Great Lakes he painted more than 500 pictures and gathered a substantial collection of artifacts.
1836
First exhibition: about 500 works
Catlin’s first exhibition takes place in the United States, with about 500 works, but it makes little public stir.
1838
The Indian Gallery and public lectures
Back in the East, he gathers his paintings and Native artifacts into his own Indian Gallery and begins giving lectures on life among the Indians, touring Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and New York with the show. The paintings hang salon-style, in rows one above another, and visitors identify them by catalogue numbers.
1838
Congress declines to buy the Indian Gallery
The U.S. Congress rebuffs his offer to sell the collection: Catlin wanted his life’s work kept intact, but his later efforts to persuade officials in Washington failed as well.
after 1839
Gallery shows in London, Brussels and Paris
As a showman and entrepreneur, he draws public interest to the Indian Gallery with exhibitions in London, Brussels and Paris (including the Louvre). Charles Baudelaire praised him for bringing back to life the nobility and manliness of the chiefs.
1839
Moves his family to England
Finding no response in America to his view of Native culture, and hoping for a more receptive audience after Congress turned him down, he takes his family and collection across the Atlantic to England.
