George CatlinAmerican, 1796–1872Four Dancers
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C., United States
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
George Catlin’s Indian Gallery did well on tour in London and other British cities, but inevitably its novelty wore off. To rekindle interest, Catlin added a new attraction in 1844, of nine Ojibwe from Canada who danced, sang, and “scalped” enemies, to the delight of the crowd. Not everyone was charmed, however, and Charles Dickens dismissed the group as a “party of Indians squatting and spitting . . . or dancing their miserable jigs after their own dreary manner.”
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1985.66.386,439
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 6 days ago
- Image: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0
Meanwhile, in the life of George Catlin
The whole life1841
Book on the manners, customs and condition of the Indians
In London he publishes Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, in two volumes with about 300 engravings; like his other books on Native culture, it aims to prove to society that Native Americans were not the primitive savages they were then thought to be.
1844
Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio
He publishes a portfolio of 25 plates with hunting scenes of the West.
1845
Death of his wife Clara and a son in Paris
In Paris his wife Clara, whom he had married in 1828 and who had accompanied him on one of his journeys west, dies of consumption, as does their youngest son. The remaining children are taken in by his wife’s relatives.
1845
Moves to Paris
He moves with his family from England to Paris.