George Catlin: American Indian Portraits

About

At a time of great change in America, painter, showman and ethnographer George Catlin (1796 — 1872) documented Native American peoples and what he saw as a dying way of life. His vivid and colourful portraits give an intriguing insight into what Catlin described as America's 'vanishing race', the collection since becoming one of the most important records of indigenous peoples ever made. Catlin toured his ‘Indian Gallery' to Birmingham in the 1840s and this exhibition is the first time that a major show of his work has been seen in Europe since then. Exhibition organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London, in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. Supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Wash-Ka-Mon-Ya Fast Dancer by George Catlin © Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs Joseph Harrison, Jr.