the catlin collection of indian paintings,4

THE CATLIN COLLECTION

OF INDIAN PAINTINGS,⁴

!ByWashington Matthews, M.D., LL. D.,Major and Surgeon, U. S.Arm;/.

The

majority of

my

audience have, no doubt, been

many

times in 'thishall, eitheras attendantson the lectureswhichare delivered here, toras visitors to the

Museum, and many

times they have gazed on the

;array of paintingswhich cover itswalls.

To what

extent have they observe*, these?

What

lessons

have

theylearned from

them

?

What

.opinions

have

theyformed,

what

criticisms have they

made

of

them

%

What

do they

know

of their history or of thehistory ofthewandering

.artist

whose

busy

hand

painted them? These are questions to which 1 can frameonly imperfect answers. I have asked such questions of

many

\ ho have visited this

Museum,

and I

am

led to believethat not imore than one in ten bestows aninquiring glanceat this

monument

to

a

^{lifeof laborious}

^and

enthusiastic devotion toachosen subject;

and

vastly fewer are those

who

inquire into the nature

and

scope of the collection,or stop to discover the

name and

something of the person- ality of the author.

Ge< rge Catlin was, to use his

own

expression, alionin his day.

He

•enacted in

Europe

fiftyyearsago

much

the

same

rolethat^"BuffaloBill

"

has playedin our time, butin a

more

scholarly

and

lesslucrative way.

He was

thegenial

showman

ofthe

American

Indian

and

the wild West.

He

carried his collection

—

^{the verycollection}

^we

^{see around us}

^now

—

to various

European

capitals.

He

exhibited live Indians,

and

he

and

hisproteges were received

and

entertained at the

homes

of English nobility.

They

timed with Louis Phillippe

and

with the

King and Queen

^of Belgium.

The

following brief autobiography is taken from his

work

entitled "Illustrationsof the Manners, Customs,

and

Condi?

;tion of theNorth

American

Indians."

"_IwasborninWyoming,inNorth America,somethirtyor forty yearssince (i.e.

%

in 1796),ofparentswhoentered that beautifuland famedvalleysoonaftertheclose ofthe revolutionary war, andthe disastrousevent of the"Indianmassacre."

"The earlypart of

my

life waswhiled away, apparentlysomewhatin vain,with hooks reluctantlyheldinoue hand and a rifle or fishing pole firmlyandaffection-, atelygraspedin theother,

"Attheurgentrequest of

my

father,wnowasapracticing lawyer,Iwasprevailed upontoabandonthese favorite themes and also

my

occasional dabblingswiththe

*Reprintof a lecture delivered inthe lecturehailof the NationalMuseum,Satur- day, April13, 1889.

H. Mis. 129, ^pt.2 38 ⁵⁹³

594 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890.

brush,whichhadsecured already a cornerin

my

affections,andIcommencedreading thelawfora professionunderthe direction ofReeve andGould, of Connecticut. I

attendedthelecturesof theselearnedjudgesfortwoyears

—

wasadmittedtothebar

—

andpracticedthelawasasortof Nimrodical lawyer, in

my

nativeland, forthetermof

twoorthree years;whenIverydeliberatelysold

my

lawlibraryandall(save

my

rifle

andfishing tackle), andconvertingtheirproceedsintobrushesandpaintpots, Icom- mencedtheartofpaintinginPhiladelphia,withoutteacheror adviser.

"Itherecloselyapplied

my

handto the labors of theart forseveral years; during which time

my

mind was continuallyreachingfor somebranchorenterprise of the arton^whichto devote awholelifetime ofenthusiasm; when a delegation ofsome tenor fifteennobleanddignitied-looking Indians,fromthe wilds of the"FarWest,"

suddenlyarrivedinthecity,arrayedand equipped inalltheir classicbeauty,

—

with shieldandhelmet,

—

withtunicandmanteau,

—

^tintedandtasseledoff,exactlyforthe painter'spalette

!

"Insilent,and stoicdignity theselordsoftheforest strutted about thecity fora fewdays,wrappedintheirpicturedrobes,withtheirbrowsplumedwiththequillsof thewareagle,attractingthegazeandtheadmiration ofallwhobeheldthem. After this, theytooktheirleaveforWashington City,and Iwasleftto reflectandregret, which1did longanddeeply,untilIcametothefollowingdeductionsandconclusions

:

'"Blackand^blueclothandcivilizationaredestined,notonlytoveil,batto obliter- atethegraceandbeautyofNature. Man,inthe simplicityandloftiness of hisnature, unrestrainedand unfettered bydisguises ofart, is surelythe mostbeautifulmodel forthepainter,

—

andthecountryfromwhichhehailsisunquestionablythebeststudy orschool ofthe artsin theworld: such,I

am

sure, fromthemodelsIhaveseen,is the wilderness ofNorth America. And the history and customs ofsuch apeople, preservedbypictorial illustrations,are themesworthythe lifetimeofone man, and nothingshort of thelossof

my

life,shallpreventmefromvisiting theircountry,and ofbecomingtheir historian.

"There was^somethinginexpressiblydelightful intheaboveresolve,whichwasto bring

me

amidst living models for

my

brush^: and atthe sametimetoplacein

my

hands again, for

my

^living and protection,the objectsof

my

heart, abovenamed:

whichhadlongbeenlaidbytorustanddecayinthecity,withoutthe remotestpros- pect ofagaincontributingto

my

^amusement.

"_Ihadfullyresolved

—

^Ihadopened

my

viewsto

my

friendsandrelations,butgot not one advocate or abettor. I tried fairlyand faithfully, but it was invain to reasonwiththosewhoseanxietieswere readytofabricateevery^difficultyanddanger that couldbeimagined, without being able to understand orappreciate the extent orimportanceof

my

^designs,andIbrokefromthemall,

—

from

my

wifeand

my

aged parents,—myself

my

only adviserandprotector."

Such

^{is Catlin's}

own

rather floweryaccount of

how

he formed his resolution; but thelanguageinwhichhe expressesit isonlyanevidence of thereality of hisenthusiam.

Thesepaintings as

works

of art I

now

often hearunfavorably _criti- cised; butcriticism is aneasy task for those

who

do not appreciate the difficulties underwhich Catliu labored. To-day our laudisfilledwith

artists of both sexes, of all ages,

and

of every degree of fitness

and

unfitness.

The number

of amateur aspirants in art has increased an hundredfold inthelast half century.

To accommodate

thisgrowthofartistic

demand,

the conveniences

and

appliances of art

have

improved

and

increased.

The

well equipped sketcher inoil of to-daycannot appreciate thedifficultiesof thetravel- ingartist in

America

fiftyor sixtyyeansago. There werethennopatent

THE CATLIN COLLECTION OF INDIAN PAINTINGS 595

sketching boxes, with their complication of conveniences.

The

com- pressible metallictnbe

had

notbeeninvented, orat leastnotintroduced intothe

armamentarium

of art.

Not

one-fourth, of the present tints of

Winsor and

Newton's catalogue were then

known.

Rapidly drying vehicles werenotin vogue.

The

artistgroundhis

own

paints

—

^coarse,

crude paints

—

^{and carried}

them

around

mixed

in pots ordryin paper.

Ido not think that a careful analysis of Catlin's paintings will reveal

more

thanadozen pigments; I have reference tothe paintingswhich weretaken, so tospeak, on the wing.

He had

not accommodationsfor more.

While

collectingalarge

number

of these views, he

was

travel- ing with

two

other

men

in a small canoe, which, in addition to his paints

and

canvas,held their clothing, bedding, ammunition

and

pro- visions; infact, everything necessaryforlife

and

comfort in aland in-

habited only

by

savages. Ethnographictravelersoftoday,withpocket camera

and

instantaneousdry-plates,have avast advantageover Catlin with hisred lead

—

which he usedliberally

—

^{his boiledoil}

^and

^{his rolled}

canvas;buttheir results arenot correspondingly

more

accurate.

Many

of his sketches,too, were necessarily taken in great haste.

Yet

he neverfailed tocatch the spiritof the scene before

him and

to transfer itfaithfully to his canvas. But, while

making

alljustexcusesfor Cat-

lin, it

must

be acknowledged thathe

was

not acquainted with allthe resourcesof his art as itexistedeveninhis day.

He was

aselftaught man.

From my own

experience, following, as Ihave donefor years, inthe verytrail of Catlin, I can notspeaktoo highly ofhis generaltruthful- ness; yet hesufferedfromcertain limitations of histime

and

surround- ingswhichhave impaired the usefulness of his literary Avork. With- outtelling

any

directfalsehood, hesucceedssometimesindeceiving the reader. His books

must

be read critically; they are notof equal use to allstudents. In thisyearof ourLord there are so

many

workersin allspecialties,

and

the facilities for publication in each are so great, thatone

may

write on the driest

and

most technical subjects, in the least interesting manner,

and

yet be reasonably certain of findinga publisher

and

a coterie of readers. It

was

not thus in

America

fifty

yearsago,

and

Catlin,

who was

a poor

man,

inorderto

make

his enter- prisepay,

had

towritefor a generalpublic,

whom

hefeltobligedto in- terestas well asinstruct.

He

sometimes painted also withthis intent, as will be

shown

later. Indeed, he thus candidlycriticises himself in one of hisletters

:

"Itwould beimpossibleattbesametime, inabookofthesedimensions,toexplain alltbemannersand customsofthesepeople; but as far asthey are narrated,they have beendescribedby

my

pen, uponthespot, asIhave seen themtransacted^; and

ifsomefewof

my

narrations shouldseemalittle toohighly colored, I trust theworld willbereadytoextendtomethatpardonwhichit iscustomarytoyield toallartists

whose mainfaults exist inthe vividness of their coloring ratherthaninthedraw- ing of theirpictures; butthere isnothing elseinthem, Ithink, that I should ask pardonfor,even though someofthemshould stagger credulityandincurformethe censureofcritics."

596 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890.

But

the question of toohighcoloriugis oftenone of personal equa- tion only.

One

of ourgreatest

modern

writers thus defends himself against thechargeof exaggeration

:

"Whatisexaggerationtooneclassofmindsandperceptionisplain truthtoanother.

That which^iscommonlycalledlong-sight,perceivesin a prospect innumerable fea- turesand hearings non-existent toa short-sighted person. Isometimes ask myself whetherthere may occasionallyhea difference ofthis kind between somewriters and some^readers; whetheritisalways the writerwhocolorshighlyorwhetheritis

nowand thenthe readerwhoseeyefor colorisalittledull."

Half a century agothecountry westof theMississippi

was

averita- ble terra incognita.

No

one appreciated the magnificent distances of thatregion.

The Eocky

^Mountains were supposed to be

somewhat

in sightof thefallsof St. Anthony. I

remember

once seeingin anovel written

by

anauthorwho, Ibelieve, is still living, anaccountinwhich the hero^isrepresented as ascending to the roof of a one-story struc- tureon thebanksoftheIllinois Eiver,

and

looking admiringlyoveran extensive landscape which

was

^"

bounded

on the west

by

the distant outline ofthe

Eocky

Mountains." In other words,this gentleman of telescopic eye

was

able to take in the entire states of Missouri

and Kansas and

half of Colorado atasingleglance.

With

such ideas pre- vailing

among

the learned,

how

^{could Catlin,} having journeyed

some

three thousand miles

up

the Missouri,

come

backwith hisfinger in his

mouth and

^sayhe

had

not

had

aglimpse of the

Eocky

Mountains% jSTo

one would ^{believe him.}

He must

at least pretend he

had

seen them,

and

so

by

aningenious verbalfabrication,* but without the slightest direct falsehood, he

makes

possible the inference that he

saw

their

snowy summits

during hisjourney

up

the Missouri Eiverin 1832. So welldoeshesucceed that a receut student ofCatlin, in apublished map, terminates the ^itineraryof 1832

some

hundreds of miles west of the

mouth

of the Yellowstone, which latter

was

really his farthest west duringthe yearⁱⁿquestion.

Ihavenot time

now

to explain in full

my

^{reasons for}

knowing

that Catlin did not see the

Eocky

Mountainsin 1832, as heleads

many

to suppose he has done; but^ifthereisany oneinthe audience conversant with Catlin's works,

who

wishes tohavethe proofs on thispoint, I

am

athis service.

Not

only did Catlin notsee the "Rockies^" in 1832,but

I have^serious doubt if he

saw

the

main

chain at

any

time during the eightyears or

more

during which he

was engaged

in

making

thisGallery.

What

he

may have

seen

and

sketched after 1852,

when

the Gallery passed into other hands, I do not

know;

butthen the Californiagold fields

had

beendiscovered, the overland route

was

troddenasclearasa thrashing-floor,

and

the visitto the

Eocky

Mountains

had become

a

common

achievement.

One

of the reasons for

my

doubts is the evi-

denceof thecollection itself.

Examine

allthese pictures carefully

by

*.See "IllustrationsoftheManners, Customs and ConditionoftheNorth American Indians," byGeo.Catlin,vol. 1, Loudon, 1H66, pp, ^(>

-

J-G5. The conversation with

"Batiste"heregiven^ia fictitious,

,

THE CATLIN COLLECTION OF INDIAN

PAINTINGS.

597

daylight,

and you

will see that the artist well appreciated thedistinc- tivebeautiesof different landscapes—the odd. the peculiar, the strik- ing. There is notaremarkable sceneon the

Upper

Missourifrom the Platte totheYellowstone that hehas not transferredto hiscanvas.

To

the beauties of the

Upper

Mississippi he hasdoneajustice which Bau- vard didnotexcel. If he has

worked

so faithfully on these beautiful bnt comparatively

tame

landscapes,

how

would theiu finitely grander scenes of the

Rocky

Mountainshaveinspired

him

1 Could hehave held hisbrush ^stillin sightof

them

¹

Yet

no view of that vast mountain region is to be found inhis collection, with the possible exception of

some

ridges seen from the

Comanche camp

iu 1834, which

may

have beenoutlyingspurs of theSierraMadre. Pike'sTent,anodd

and

beau-

tifulbutcomparativelyinsignificant bluff,

some

five

hundred

feethigh, on theupperMississippi, has a canvas allotted toitintheGallery, but foraview ofPike's Peak, fourteenthousandfeethigh andcovered with eternal snows,

we

seekiu vain. In vain do

we

search for a viewof a single oneof the mouarchs of the

Chippewyan

Range.

As

is well

known,

literaturehas always had its requirements, which varied according totime, race

and

country. But, as is not so gener- ally recognized, science too has

had

its requirements in times past, which limited

and

controlled its development.

Perhaps

ithasitsarbi- trary

and

illogicalrequirements today, while

we

arenotawareofthera.

The

slave

knows

not

how

deeply the fetter has cut into hisflesh until ithas beencast away.

There

was

a singular

demand made

on the

American

ethnographer of a generation or

two

ago,

and

ithas scarcely yetbeen silenced.

He was

obligedtoadvance a theory ofan

Old World

origin fortheAmeri- canaborigines,

and

if not for thewholerace, at least forthat part ofit inwhich he

was most

interested.

The

shelves of libraries of Ameri- canaarecrowded with volumes devotedtoprovingsuchtheories.

Such

an importantplace in the speculations of that time did thesetheories have, that a great religious system ^(a system which formsto-day one of the greatest politicalproblems that confront us) is based

upon

the theory of the descent of the Indians from the ten lost tribes ofIsrael.

We

^can understand Catlin's environment better,

when we remember

that he lived in the time the angelMoroni revealed toJoseph Smith the hiding place of the golden tablets on which

was

engraved thebook of

Mormon.

Catlin's journey in 1832on the

Upper

Missouri

was

his first impor- tantexpedition, hisfirst journey intoareallywild land,, as well as the most fruitfuljourney in artistic

and

ethnographicmaterial thatheever made. His mostinteresting observations were taken

among

a seden- tary, house-building, agricultural people

named Mandans.

Tribes of thisclass were not

uncommon

in

America

in his day, but at the time of his visithe

was

notaware of the fact. In the

Mandan

^villageshe found a hospitable

and

intelligent trader

named

Joseph Kipp,

who

598 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890.

proved himselfaguide

and

interpreterofunusualvalue,

and made

the stay of hisguestboth pleasant

and

profitable.

The

latter arrived at the time of a

most

important riteof the

Mandans,

the whole ofwhich he

was

permitted towitness

and

thelike ofwhich he never

saw

before orafter. Thin riteI shall refer to atlength before theclose of thelec- ture. Mr. Kipp, too, undoubtedly spoke well ofhis Indianfriends. I

haveoftenobservedon thefrontierthatwhite

men who

havelivedlong with any particular tribeof Indians acquire a greater senseof loyalty to such tribe, that they hate its enemies, love its friends, souud its praises,

and

maintain its superiority to all other tribes.

Had

Catlin had opportunitiesofwitnessing the great ceremonies of other nations under the conductof guides as well informed as Mr. Kipp, he would notperhaps

have

considered the

Maudaus

sosuperiorto other tribesas herepresents

them

in his writings. It

was

this people which he se- lectedas the subject of his origiu theory.

By

a series of arguments and conclusionswhich

we

would

now

call "jumping," but which passed musterinthe science of half a century ago,he estab isned to his

own

satisfaction that the

Man

dans were descended fromcertain

Welshmen who

sailedinten ships underthedirectionof Prince

Madoc

from North

Wales

in the early part of the fourteenth century.

Although

his theoryhas littlevalue inthelightshed

by modern

investigation,it con- trolledall hisopinions, distorted

mauy

ofhis statements,and hastrans- mitteditsevil influencethrough theworksof ahost of compilers

and

book-makers,

many

of them of high

fame

in thescientific world,

down

to the present day. So

much

for

some

of the unfavorableinfluences of his environment.

There are various ^portraits

and

pictures of oursubjectextant.

One

appears inhis notes on Travel inEurope. Mr.

Thomas

Donaldson, in hisrecent work,* presents three,

and

in his

own

works theartist often includes sketches ofhimself.

The

plate facingpage701inDonaldson's

work

is acopyof a picture painted

by

theartist's

own hand when

he

was

twenty-eight years old.

He

is represented b.yhis contemporaries as a person of

medium

height, slender, wellformed,very graceful,

and

of a complexion so decidedlydark that

some

of his friends thought he might possibly claim for his own, alittleof the blood of that race to

whose

study he

had

devoted alife-time.

In PI.

cxxx

is

shown

one of Catlin's sketches of himself in the primeofhis activity and usefulness. Itrepresents

him

in 1832, atthe age of thirty-six, seated at a feast in the lodge of Mah-to-toh-pa or

Pour

Bears, then second chief of the

Mandans,

dressed in his buck- skin hunting ^suit. Accordingto the etiquette of the place

and

time, heeats alone out of a

wooden

bowl, whilehis host fills thecalumetfor him to

smoke

after his meal,

and

the

women

of the householdact the part of spectators.

*"TheGeorgeCatlin Indian Galleryin the U. S.National Museum(Smithsonian Institution),withMemoir andStatistics," inSmithsouiau Reportfor 1885.

ReportofNationalMuseum,¹890.—Matthews. Plate CXXX.

THE CATLIN COLLECTION OP INDIAN

PAINTINGS.

599

The

platefacingpage 711in Donaldson's "Catlin Indian Gallery"is

from aphotograph takenin 1868,

when

he

had

reached thevenerable age ofseventy-two,aboutfouryearsprior to hisdeath.

A

scar on the left cheek, which shows in this picture,

was

causedaccidentally

by

a hatchet stroke receivedin

boyhood

from a

comrade

with

whom

he

was

" playing Indian,"an indication that the sight of the delegation in Philadelphia

was

not the first incidentinhislifewhich led to his voca- tion, although it

may

have been thedecisive one.

Whatever

unfavorable criticism

may

be

made

of Catlin as acolorist, littledisparagementcan be

made

ofhis accuracy

and

spiritas a deline- ator. Inlandscapehe seizesthe genius of thelocality with marvelous quickness and iusight.

Any

one

who

has traveled on the

Upper

Mis- souriwill recognize

how

perfectly,ina fewstrokes,in thesketch before us(PI.cxxxt,Fig._1),he hasfixedthefeatures ofthat turbid flood,with

itsmonotonouswalls ofcottonwoodtrees, terraced astheyrise from the

newer

to the olderalluvialdeposits onitsshores; with itscaving bank,

its falling trees

and

snags on the convexity of theriver'scurve where the current strikestheland with greatestforce,

and

the low, shelving

bank

ofthe opposite side. It is notaplacid stream; with a few well placed Hues hetells us thatit

moves

at therateofseven miles anhour.

Geology, sixtyyears ago,

was

aninfant science.

The

geologic land- scape artist

had

not

become

differentiated from landscape artistsin general

—

^{to this}

^day

but alimited few have obtained highproficiency

among

this class, vetI doubtif

some

of the bestdraftsmen attached toour

own

Govern 3ntsurveyscouldbring out

more

correctlythe sali-

entfeatures of the ftTertiary bluffs of the

Dakota

region than Mr.

Catlin hasdone in the sketch represented in PI. cxxxi, Fig.2. Such

is the countrythat is so appropriately designated Mauvaises Terres, or

Bad

Lands.

PI.

cxxxn,

Fig.1,copies hispaintingofafeature

common

ⁱⁿthebluffs of the

Upper

Missouri region, wheresmall interrupted deposits ofhard sandstonearemingled with

much

softer formations,not greatly exceed- ing ordinary clay in hardness. These pieces of sandstone, protecting the underlying soft rock from erosion

by

the rain, cause a series of pillars tobe formed, as

shown

in the painting.

A ^seam

^{ofligniteruns}

along thebaseof thebluff.

The

floodplain oftheMissouri,herealmost treeless, forms the distance.

The

picture

shown

in PI.cxxxti,Fig.2,representsconicalhills,which are very

common

in the

same

country.

From

these summits, during the rare rainsof the region, streams of temporaryexistence flowwith great force

and

cut deep, narrow, fantastic gulleys in the alluvial soil,

such as that

shown

in the painting. These hills are striped horizon- tally indivers beautiful colors, being

composed

of strata of different tintstowhichtheoriginal canvasdoes amplejustice.

Everywhere

he has seized the distinctive features of the land- scape

and

apparentlywith an iutuitive understandingof its geologic

600 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890.

basis.

We

need not marvel

when we

learn tbat in his later years, withoutanyextensivebook study,he

became

agood practical geologist.

In this picture ^(PI.

cxxxin,

Fig. ₁₎he gives us astriking representa- tion ofthe peculiarbillowyhills which areso characteristicoftheloess depositsofthe MissouriValleyin western

Iowa and

easternNebraska.

Thesearethehills of loess of]832, withtheirsmooth, grass-clad sides

and

theirscantygrovesinthe ravines; such,too,theystillseemed

when

last I

saw

them, fourteen yearsago; but achange even then

was

com- ingover

them

_; prairietires were atan

end and

small shrubs wereris-

ing above the grass. These are perhaps good sized saplings to-day.

So theforestAvill spread

and

soon the beautiful clear-cut outlinesof these billowy slopes willno

more

have

power

to inspire the artist's hand.

In this, asin a

hundred

othercases, tbepictureshave,for us,ahigh historic value as fixing an irrevocable past.

They show

us landmarks of the

West

which have long ago disappeared, such as old trading posts of the Indiancountry; Fort Union,which stoodfortyyearsat the

mouth

of theYellowstone, butthelines of

whose

foundation wallscan scarcely betraced to-day.

Floyd's grave, the placeof intermentof the only

man who

died on Lewis

and

Clarke'sfamousexpeditionin 1804, is

shown

in PI.cxxxin, Fig. 2. Isthere

any

trace of the once lonely

mound now

in the busy environs ofSiouxCityf*

Does

the polestillstand, as Catlin showsit,

over Blackbird's grave (PI. cxxxiv,Fig.1),the last instance of ase- pulchral

mound

^builtinhistoric times,showingthatour

modern

Indians were

mound

builders'?

The

self-reared

monument

of Julien

Dubuque,

thefirstwhite

man who worked

the

Upper

Mississippi lead-mines,a cen- tury ago, stood perfect still in Catlin's day,a stone hut with doorof lead

and

cross ofcedar(PL cxxxiv,Fig. ₂₎; but, thirty-fiveyearsago, Ihave seen itlevel with the ground.

Such

are

some

of the

many

ob- literated land-marks reared

by human

hands that Catlin's pencil has perpetuated.

But

worksof nature,thelandmarks erected bythe eternalelements;

can these be obliterated^J?

Have

they anypast which the artist can preserve for the

coming

generations'? Let this picture decide.

Here

arethefallsot St.

Anthony

(PLcxxxv,Fig.1),asthey roaredtoanunten- antedsolitude intheyear1835,

when George

Catlinvisited

and

sketched them.

Who

^{wouldrecognize} anyidentitybetween thatfair wild scene

and

thefalls of St.

Anthony

of to-day(PL

cxxxv,

Fig 2).

A

very large proportion of the paintingsin this collection isdevoted to Indian

games and

huntingscenes(PL cxxxvi.Fig._1),

and

theserep- resentfrom ascientificpoint ofviewthemostvaluable partofthewhole

collection, with the exception of the four scenes of the great

Maudan

*>Siuce thisAvas -written Ihavelearned that (the grave being endangeredbythe gradualfallingawayof theedgeof thebluff)the people ofSiouxCityhaverecently removedtheremainsof tSergeautFloydfurtherback fromtheriveronthesamehill.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1890.

—

^Matthews Plate CXXXI.

1„,^{< i •} f

rim

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f *» >

i\:U ^• i

w

i

tX^> / c

xV~y*t*

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^{v/^}

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Fig. 1. Sceneon the Upper Missouri.

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M4

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Fig. 2. Bad Lands on the Upper Missouri.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXXXII.

:~rt

u^i-:-y

_{

4

I J

rWM.

Fig. 1. Bluffson the Upper Missouri.

PHmmH

Fig. 2. Sceneon Banksof the Upper Missouri.

ReportofNationalMuseum,1890.— Matthews. Plate CXXXIII.

Fig. 1. Hills ofthe Loess! Upper Missouri.

Fig. 2. Floyd's Grave.

Reportof NationalMuseum,1890.—Matthews. PlateCXXXIV.

Fig. 1. Blackbird's Grave.

FiG. 2. DUBUQUE'SGRAVE.

Reportof NationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXXXV.

•

-

, i*

:

"

_K

Fig. 1. Falls ofSt. Anthony in 1835.

K M^^^"'

^f.L1,»LT?^;'':.gfc'""^

K*i SSK

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Fig. 2. Modern Falls ofSt. Anthony.

ReportofNationalMuseum,1890.— Matthews. Plate CXXXVI.

Fig. 1. Buffalo Hunt on Horseback.

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Fig. 2. Mandan Gameof Tchung-kee.

(FromDonaldson's " CatlinIndianGallery," Plate74.)

the catlin collection of

india.n paintings.

601

'ceremonytobe hereafter described.

The

scene in PI. cxxxvi,Fig'. 2, ispresented, not becauseitis the most picturesque ofthis classthathe haspainted, but because, simple as itis, hehascaughtthespirit of the situation so well.

The

pose of the

men who

are betting onthe

game and

watching anxiously thefall ofthe hoopis excellent. I have heard

many

favorable

comments made

onthis plateby Indians. This

game

ofTchung-keewas,with

some

modifications, practiced over the greater part ofNorth

America

atthetime ofthediscovery and untillongafter.

Catlin devotes four canvassesto illustrating the excitingball

game

of the Choctaws.

One

of his illustrations is

shown

in

PL cxxxvu. He

tells us that it is impossiblewith

pen and

inkalone, orbrush, or even with theircombined efforts to give

more

than a caricature of such a scene.

However

true this

remark may

beit is not tobe denied that hehere presents tous an unusually lively spectacle.

But

the great temptation to present

more

illustrations of Indian games,

some

of which Ihave

had

the good fortune to witness,

must

be resisted.

The

majority of his hunting scenes represent an irreclaimable past, sincetheyare largely associated with an animal practically extinct,the

American

bisonorbuffalo. Catlin

had

the true spiritofthehunter; he

was

an excellent rider, agood shot,

and

for these reasons hedelighted inpaintinghuntingscenes,

and

heinfuses

more

^lifeintosuchstudiesthau into any others which he executed. PI.

cxxxvni,

represents the de- structionofa small

band

ofbuffalowhich hewitnessed near the

Mandan

villages. Hispen picture of thesceneis noless vivid than the

work

of hisbrush.

Of

course such paintingsas this

must

have been largely

worked up

afterthe occasion, from hasty sketches

and

from

memory,

notes,

and

imagination_; but theyarenonethelessvaluableonthat ac- count.

The

instantaneous

camera came

too late for the buffalosur- round.

But had

^it

come

in time, itmightnothave caught as

much

of the scene as the artist'seye hascaught.

PI. cxxxvi, Fig. 1,represents his

own

first chase on horseback after the buffalo atthe

mouth

^of theYellowstone,in 1832, in

company

with

Kenneth

Mackenzie,

— whose name was

famous inthe annals of theold trading daysof the Northwest,

—

^{and a}

^French

^Canadian

^named

^Chad-

ron.

As

heputs himself into thispicture(he is therider in the back- ground; it is

Chadron who

isclimbinghischarger'sneck),itis reasona- ble tosupposethat while he

was

ridinghishorseafterthe bisonhe

was

notalso standing ontheground

and making

asketch ofhimself. This picture istherefore a composition.

So

also istheillustration presented in

PL

cxxxix, natural

and

real- isticasit seems. Mr. Catlin

saw

all theelements ofthis pictureindif- ferentplaces

and

at differenttimes; his artisticimagination has com- bined

them

and given us apleasing,

and

forall purposesof illustration atruthful, picture.

He saw

walking Indiansinone ^place,snowshoesin another,walkingbuffaloes inthe

summer

in thefarWest,

snow

in

some

602 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890,

safeeasternsituation in winter,

aud common

cattle toilingthroughthe

snow

from which hecould imaginetheposeof the bison undersimilar circumstances.

But

^this winter hunt,oranylikewinter hunt, he never saw.

A

^carefulperusal of his writingwill be sufficient to satisfy

any

onethat he nevervisited thenorthern buffalorangesinthewinter,and thereforecouldnot

have

witnessedsuch scenes.

He made

his itinera- ries in the Indian countryin

summer and worked up

his notes

and

sketchesin

some

easterncity in winter.

But

thechief wealth of this galleryis in its portraits of Indians,

many

of

whom

are historiccharacters.

He

publishes

many

certificates of the authenticity

and

correctness of his portraits.

To

theworld at largethese

may

beof value; but, for

my own

part, Idesire no better witnesses than thetears I

have

seen shed over

some

of

them by

the children

and

the grandchildren of the subjects.

Singularly

enough

Catlin's

works seem

not to have circulated in early days in the lands inwhich the scenes of his labor were laid.

My

first acquaintance with the

Mandans was made

in1865.

At

that time allrecollection of Catlin's visit

was

lost, both

by

theIndians anI the whites

who

lived

among

them.

White men who ^had

traded for years

among

the Indians

knew

nothing of him.

About

4 years after

my

^firstarrivalonthe

Upper

MissouriIsucceededingettingacopyof his

" Illustrations,"etc., "of theNorth

American

Indians," in

two

volumes.

This

was

beforethedays not only of railroads

and

expressoffices,but ofevenregular post-offices

and

post-roads in North Dakota,

and

the introduction of rare books

was no

easy matter.

The work

created the liveliest interest

amongst

the Indians. I lived then atFort Steven- son(now anIndianschool),

some

16 miles distantfromthevillagewhere theremainsof the threetribes, called by Catliuthe

Mandans,

Biccar- rees,

and

Minnetarees, were living together.

The news

soon spread

among

these Indians that I

had

a

book

containing the "faces of their fathers,"

and

ere

many

days

my

quarters at Fort Stevenson were thronged with eager visitors.

The

portraits, although appearing in Catlin's plates only as light,

unshaded

etchings,were generallyreadily recognized

by

the children

and

the grandchildren of the departed heroes represented.

The women

rarely restrainedtheir tears at the sightof these ancestral pictures.

The men

seemedtohavelessfeeling

and

interest, butI soon

had

evidence that their indifference

was

af- fected.

Those

who

have read Catlin's

works

areawarethathis most honored Indian hero

was Four

Bears, a chief of the

Mandans,

PI. cxl.

He

devoted one full-page plate to

Four

Bears' portrait, another to his hospitality, fourto hisbuffalorobe, an entirechapterto his personality andhistory,

and

heoften refers to

him

elsewherein his various works.

Among

those

who came

to see

my

books

was

a son ofthis

Four

Bears,

named Rushing

Fagle, PI. cxli,or (as he

was more

familiarly called bythe whites)

Bad

^Grun.

Bushing

Eagle

was

thesecond chief of the

Reportof NationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXXXVII.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXXXVIII.

Reportof NationalMuseum,1890.

—

Matthews. Plate CXXXIX.

> K

O 3

5S

O e3

CD

M

=> .9

THE CATLIN COLLECTION OF INDIAN

PAINTINGS.

603

Mandans.

lie had already earned a high reputationforhimself as a warrior

and

counselor.

He was

very gentle in his manner, reticent, dignified,

and

disinclined to begfavors of white men.

At

the time of which I

am

speakinghe

was

a middle-aged man. His father

had

been deadoverthirtyyears,

and

Idid notsupposethathis recollectionofhis parent could be veryvivid.

At

thefirst sightof thepicture of

Fonr

Bears he

showed

noemotion,although he regarded^itlong

and

intently.

While

he

was

gazingatitI

was

called onbusiness out of the

room

and

I left

him

alone with the book, telling hira,correctly, as I supposed, thatI would be gone

some

time,

and

asking

him

not to leaveuntil 1 returned; but ina few

moments

I

was

obligedto

come

back forsome- thingI needed.

When

I reenteredtheapartment Ifound

him

weeping

and

addressing aneloquentmonologue to the picture of his departed father.

Of

course Iintruded as short a time as possibleonthis scene

and

lefthim long alone sothathecould "have his cry out."^* In1872,

when

an ^itinerant photographer

made

a tour of the

Upper

Missouri, going as far asthe

mouth

ofthe Yellowstone, I

had

a ferrotypeof

my

friend

Rushing

Eagle made, the poseof the head approximating as closely as possible that of Catlin's picture of

Four

Bears. I have carried this ferrotype around with

me

eversince,

and

quite recently I

have

had

it copied with admirable fidelity

by

the

Moss Engraving Company,

^of

New York

("Mosstype"). I desire here to call atten- tion to this picture (PI. cxli) in connection with Catlin's portrait of theelder chieftaken forty years earlier,

and

forthis reason I intro-

duced a copy of a portion (PI. cxl) of Catlin's etching of

Four

Bears,which latteris afull-length portrait.

The

old

men

of thetribe told

me

that

Rushing

Eagle

was

the image of his father. Such a great resemblance does notappearin the etching; there is a general likeness, but taking feature for feature there is

much

dissimilarity.

Remembering

that Catlin's original pictures of the Indians were oil paintings,

and

that the etchings were but copies, I determined to examine the original which

now hangs

with the restof Catlin's col- lectiononthesouth wall ofthishall. I have

compared

it with theetch- ingand with thepictureof

Rushing

Eagle. Itisevident that theetch- ingis nota carefulcopy of theoilpainting

and

thatthelatterbears a greaterresemblance to the pictureof

Rushing

Eagle'than the former.

In the painting the linewhich

marks

theanteriorborder of the cheek comes in a straightline

down

tothe angle of the

mouth

as in the face of

Rushing

Eagle.

The

etching

shows

a

mouth

of classiccurves; the

oil painting represents a well-formed but unconventional

mouth

like that seen inthe

accompanying

Mosstype.

The jaw

in the painting, like thatintheMosstype, is heavierthan intheetching. In both the etching

and

the painting theeye seems set unnaturallyfarback.

In comparingtheetching, oreventheoriginal painting,with thepor-

*Thisaccounthas previouslyappeared in the "American Antiquarian^" for Sep- tember, 1888.

604 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM,

1890.

trait of

Rushing

Eagle,

we must remember

that Catlin's pictures were necessarily hastysketches, inwhich he soughtratherto " catch alike-

ness" than to copythe face with painstaking exactness,

and we must

alsobearin

mind

the great difference to be observed betweenportraits of our

own

historic

men

painted

by

different artists, under different circumstances,

and

at differentperiods oflife. Oftenincomparingsuch portraits

we

recognizein

them

a

common

subject,only

by some

prominent feature or

by

theaccessories ofdress.

Inthe picture of

Rushing

Eagle

some

expression ofsadness ormel- ancholy

may

bedetected,whichisnottobe seenin the porti'aits ofhis fatherand, closely as thisengravingcopiesitsoriginal,thesad expres sionis still

more pronounced

in the ferrotype. Possibly the difference resultsfrom the failureon the part of theportraitpaintertotransferthe mournfulglanceto his canvas; but if it isinherentin thelivingmodels

we

need notwonder.

Four

Bears,

when

Catlin

knew

him,

was

aleader ofa happy, well-fed,

and

prosperous people,while his son,

when

he sat beforethecamera,

was

one ofastarved

and

oppressed remnant,

whose

horoscope

grew

darkerfrom

day

to day.

PI. cxlii represents the faceof an old chief of the Minnetarees, a neighbor andfriend of

Four

Bears, whosehair swepttheground

when

his tallform stooderect. Thisis pronounced a wonderful likeness

by

all

who remember

theoriginal.

As

hisdescendantswere mostlyfemales

and

quitenumerous, thedemonstrations of recognition

and

griefover thispicturewere

much more

notablethan over that of

Four

Bears.

PI. cxliiiis a reproduction ofhismuch-copiedportraitofthefamous Iroquoischief

whose name

is thusmentioned byFitzGreene Halleck:

Thy nameisprincely,though nopoet'smagic, CouldmakeEedJacketgracean English rhyme, Unlesshehada geniusforthetragic,

Andintroduceditiutopautomime.

The

artist indulged

him

inthewish he expressed, " thathemight be seen standing onthe table rock at the falls of Niagara, aboutwhich placehe thoughthis spirit

would

linger after he

was

dead."

Perhapsit

was

thisportraitthat Halleck,inthe

poem

already quoted, referred to

when

he exclaimed:

Ifhewere with me,KingofTuscarora, GazingasI, uponthyportrait now, Inall itsmedaled, fringed, and headedglory,

Itseyes' dark beauty anditsthoughtfulbrow-

Itsbrowhalf martialandhalf diplomatic, Itseye upsoaring, likeaneagle'swings;

Wellmight heboast that we, the democratic, OutrivalEurope

—

^eveninourkings.

"

Red

Jacket"was,however,butawhiteman's nickname.

Had

the poet bethought

him

of the true Indian

name

he might have found ^it bettersuited to his verse. This

name was

Sagoyeqwatha, or

Keeper

Reportof NationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXL.

Four Bears, 1832.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXLI.

Rushing Eagle, 1872.

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1890.—Matthews. Plate CXLII.

Black Moccasin, Chief ofthe Minnetarees.

(FromDonaldson's "CatlinIndianGallery, " Plate46.)

Reportof NationalMuseum,1890.—Matthews. Plate CXLIII.

Red Jacket.

(FromDonaldson's " CatlinIndianGallery," Plate55.)

THE CATLIN COLLECTION OF INDIAN

PAINTINGS.

605

Awake. He was

^{so called} because within the sounds of his eloquent voice sleep

was

impossible.

In PI.

cxliv

is seen the sad face of tbe

young

Seminole lighter, Osceola,

who made

himself notorious in the third decadeof thiscen- tury,

and

ended his sanguinary career a prisoner at Fort Moultrie,

when

butlittleoverthirty years of age.

The

picture to the leftisfromCatliu'scauvas, painted while the sub- ject

was

a prisoner.

The

picture on the right is from a bust in the National

Museum

which bas for its basis Osceola's death-mask.

An

interesting difference is to be observed between these

two

pictures.

Osceola, on his father's side,

was

the grandsonof a

Welshman, and

as suchinherited the

name

of Powell. In Catliu's portrait the

European

element in the features is

more

pronounced. In the bust from the death-mask it is the Indian element which is the

more

prominent.

Thisislargelydue no doubtto theshrinkage ofthe tissues of theface during the fatal illness, which caused the eyes tosink

and

the

bony

frameof the

physiognomy

to

become more

marked.

Among

the portraits are

two

of

Keokuk

(oneonfoot, as

shown

in PI.

cxlv and

one on horseback), a celebrated iSaukchief, from

whom

the present city of

Keokuk,

in Iowa,is named,

and whose

bust

now

occupies a placein theCapitol; oneofBlack

Hawk

(PI. cxlvi),

whose name

is given to one of the severest wars our pioneers everexperi- enced, agaiust

whose

forces

Abraham

^{Lincolnserved in his}youthas a volunteerprivate;

and many

others of greathistoric value.

1

now come

toconsider fourpictures inthe gallerywhich havegiven rise to

more

controversy

and comment

thanall therest of the

work

combined,

and

whichwereatoncehisglory

and

hismisfortune. These are his pictures of a certain religious

ceremony

of the

Man

dans called Okeepa.

They

were his glory because in

them

hedepicts oneof the most extraordinary rites that the eye of civilized

man

has ever wit- nessed,

and

because they were the first pictorial representations ever

made

of theesoteric

work

of

an

Indian medicinelodge. His descrip- tionof theserites is no less wonderful

and

faithful than his pictures.

They

were hismisfortune because the sceneshedescribed

and

painted were so unusual that theywere discredited

by

his jealous scientific contemporaries,

and

such doubts were cast

upon

^his

work

as to inter- fere with the sale of his gallery in France,

and

later in the United States. Mr. Schoolcraft

was

the official ethnographer in those days,

and

hisdictum

seemed

to settle all questions. In his

immense

six-

volumed

compilation entitled " Information respecting the History, Condition,

and

Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States,"

he generally ignores the great

work

^{of Catlin,}but he publishesaletter

dated

June

28, 1852,

by

a "colonel"

who was

superintendent ofIndian

affairsin thosedays.

The

letter of this"colonel"indicates through- outa mostsuperficialsecond-hand knowledgeof the subjectof

which

he^treats,

and

the only reference he

makes

to Catiin'slabors isiuthe