George Catlin and His Indian Gallery

By George Catlin and George Gurney

Book Overview

In 1832, George Catlin--showman, entrepreneur, and artist--made the first of four trips into Indian country, painting as he went, in a wonderfully spontaneous, if somewhat naive style. His ambition was to paint every tribe. He fell short. But what he did achieve, and the subject of this splendid volume, is a remarkable look into the faces and daily activities of Native Americans before their lands and their numbers were so radically diminished. And while Catlin was clearly influenced by the idea that Indians were Noble Savages (rapidly acquiring the vices of the white man while losing their "savage" virtues), his passion for his work is evidence of a profound respect and affection for his subjects, clearly demonstrated in this magnificent book.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393052176
• ISBN13: 9780393052176
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 5.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 10.3" x 12.3"

Customer Reviews

essential

george catlin's indian gallery depicts what america lost in both humanity and landscape. there is no equivalent directly observed attestation to the life, customs and habitat of the vanished north american indigenous peoples. catlin's work is a gift to historical record of the highest significance. it is consistent with the essential nature of the content that the quality of this publication is outstanding in design and reproduction.

Wonderful Edition

This book has a nice variety of the collection of George Catlin paintings, along with a few of the artifacts from his collection. Most of these are reproduced in color in this book. The text is also well written and tells the story of Catlin, his paintings, and the view point of the era.

George Catlin and His Indian Gallery

This is a gorgeous book, filled with magnificent reproductions of Catlin's seminal portraits and augmented by a trenchant and insightful commentary.

Superb collection of Catlin's paintings

This is a wonderful book! It accompanies an exhibit of hundreds of Catlin's paintings held in Washington DC in 2002, and scheduled to travel to several other cities. The reproductions are superb (the best I've ever seen) - the colors are true, and the sizes are often full-page and sometimes double-page. A brief commentary accompanies each painting, and there are also lengthy essays describing Catlin's life, his time in Europe, and his connection with the Smithsonian.I bought Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, etc at the same time that I bought this book, and I read the two of them together. The paintings are immeasurably enhanced by Catlin's comments and stories (he is a great story-teller). He explains what's happening in the crowd scenes (and it is sometimes hair-raising!), and he gives interesting background on the people shown in the portraits. Looked at in this way, the paintings really come alive. Very highly recommended.