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 CollectionCatlin, George
History
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
Catlin, George
England -- Description and travel; France -- Description and travel; Indians of North America
instance, by officers of the United States, who were present at the
time.
But sketches are not all that this unique collection consists of.
There is a large number of the dresses of the chiefs and women, rich
and curious to a very great degree, implements of war and of social
life--articles by which friendship is promoted and leisure is amused.
----*----
PHILADELPHIA HERALD AND SENTINEL.
_Catlin's Indian Gallery_ is one of the most curious and interesting
collections ever brought before the public. The portraits of the chiefs
and warriors constitute perhaps the least striking portion of the
gallery; although the natural freedom and boldness of the attitudes,
and the life-like variety and expression of the countenances,
caught with a rare felicity by the accomplished artist, render them
immeasurably superior in attraction and value to anything of that kind
ever before presented to the community. They were all sketched on the
spots of their residence, and in the characteristic attire of their
tribes; and the certificates of different United States officers,
attached to the back of each picture, testify to the accuracy and
completeness of each individual portraiture. The largest and by far the
most engaging and peculiar part of the collection, consists of sketches
of groups occupied in the various games, sports, and diversions, by
which the monotony of savage life is amused.
Mr. Catlin visited forty-eight different tribes, and was domesticated
amongst them for eight years; and whenever any spectacle of merriment,
or business, or religion was got up, the painter drew apart from the
company, and producing the canvas which was always in readiness, seized
with an Hogarthian quickness and spirit the outlines and the impression
of the scene before him, and has perpetuated for the gratification
of posterity the faithful and vivid likenesses of some of the most
extraordinary acts and incidents which the history of man can exhibit.
Sketched with a distinctness and a particularity which indicate an
uncommon degree of talent and skill on the part of the artist, we
find among these paintings almost everything that is characteristic
in the life and conduct of the Indian: the energetic dance, marked
by a science and a significance, unknown to the amusements of more
cultivated nations,--the hunt of the buffalo, with its impressive
incidents of danger and daring--the religious rite--the military
council--the game--the fight--the voluntary torture by which the
"Stoic of the woods" displays his hardihood of nerve and spirit--and
the grotesque gaiety which marks the occasional mirthfulness of a
nature usually so much restrained. All these are brought before us
with a fidelity of delineation attested by the certificates of the
most competent and reputable witnesses, and animation and interest
acknowledged by all who have approached them.
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