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Show ta e a "Sms? saa asa 5a "W ua ea W Wa m Bass b a $s bsi a " 1 r - 4 is jy l-'ife': 1 'v -rWlVt Indians of the Northern Plains i : '-3ioAfUW WtAvYsf&SLl N Carl Bodmer ( From yel University Pr i GeorqeCatlin. the Famous Explorer, Teastinq With "T- TT5 -'4i4IIK ChierNah-to-oh-pa of the Mandan Tribe V&w I ' FromCatlin's own sketch made, about J834 jj V -f- .'..S''' ' . , 'jnAJI ' , I 1 Crow Huntinq Camp" I :j "i William de la M. City . By ELMO SCOTT WATSON kL. f4 l J CENT exhibitions of native art- fXffvj ) 1 AwK II 6k drawings, paintings and other exam- JI W JL M i JHi'iwMl?'l$,l 4 Pies of handicraft-in various parts h ( fj W fL?5 f flflilli 4 , of the country have not only served ' L .IRM tSfiZrK OkL? ? s 1 1 ' f"i '! a A to revive the interest of the peopie Vlft tK lATi&Sf 1 K- ifi R of the United States in the original (jl W KKiifat WhJl AipW i t, Vi r 4 M inhabitants of this continent, the 7Ljt fa f 41 - SL t2t it 1 ' l Hi iMfll - North American Indians, but they fA i ik hnve a,so scrved t0 reca11 tf,e serv- Kfu4f Wir YlxVA iVxfw i"r p ices of a group of men whose work pt 'l 111 11 i Kfotl rM'l V;r '.H i deserves a better fate than the par- 111 I V 1 t A$1' t XTi J1 'AT' V I I P tial oblivion which has been theirs. fi hA 1 Lli"JH 1H 141 H V l N These are the early painters of the f- JUAlA ft X ' I f gl?! l f ? 4 y Indians to whom we are indebted fVt ?,t L 1 i O 1 zJf s fel "" Jc 1 ' r for most of our pictorial evidence M it'jJ! t, i.VVf SsV- 14 ,e red man while he was still compara- $ T"' , ,'SjW(r -" I I; ntouched by the so-called "civilizing" In- j f , , - . . - " of the white man. 1 l ost among the names of these artists "Art OSaqe Scalp Dance" tu John Mix Stanleu-ZBys nP flunrtra Pllllln nnrl manttnn nf hi. " ' k 'i Crow Huntinq Camp" "j by William de la M. Caru t.u 1 i' By ELMO SCOTT WATSON iV L'ENT exhibitions of native art a drawings, paintings and other exam--jJ pies of handicraft in various parts -auiIK f "'e colmtry nilve not on'y served "a W revive the interest of the people NA of the United States In the original Afl inhabitants of this continent, the swtfj rsorl:n -American Indians, but they I CrK have also served to recall the serv- gMj ices of a group of men whose work t fcf deserves a better fate than the par-lit par-lit r tial oblivion which has been theirs. ( These are the early painters of the " Indians to whom we are indebted for most of our pictorial evidence II le red man while he was still compara- III ntouched by the so-called "civilizing" ln- of the white man. II ost among the names of these artists f of George Callin and mention of him hirly appropriate at this time because ist 100 years ago that Catlin had started l 'ork of recording the appearancesocial customs of the tribes of the trans-Mis- Wcst. Catlin was born in Wyoming, ' 790 and in accordance with his father's litudled for the profession of law, which rh practicing in Philadelphia. But, be-Sf'3 be-Sf'3 of excitement and adventure, he found !$jfilt to stick to his business and he de-Htnost de-Htnost as much time to his avocation of and painting, In which he was self-;fas self-;fas lle d'd 10 his vocation of law. Sif"y ln a party of Indians from the Iciest" who were on their way to a coun-"1 coun-"1 the Great White Father ln Washington over In Philadelphia. Catlin saw them Jij&iPtrects and was so delighted with their us and noble bearing that he determined on tup his law practice and devote his life ;rs. tng a collection of paintings of Indians -d b'VouId show, after they were gone, how :ant.ked and how they lived. ?sult was his first Journey to tha Indian n 1S32 and for the next eight years he himself to the work. He traveled many is of miles by canoe and on horseback li rihes which were still as wild and un- they had been In pre-Columbian days ound plenty of excitement, difficulty and In his work, lie made paintings every- toi traits of chiefs and warriors, palnt- he scenery of the West, of herds of buf-hunting buf-hunting life, of Indian games, cere-f cere-f social customs everything that would the life and country of the wild tribes .soxt. More than that, he painted scenes fading posts and United States forts, n ose sites now stand Important American x ,o that oven If he had not left an In- i lecord of the Indian, the historical t'1 other phase of his work would be xv'ough to place Americans under a heavy gratitude to him. not only painted hundreds of pictures mde a big collection of Indian objects X 'weapons, scalps, objects used In games, of clothing, ornaments, etc. With all he made a tour of the East, exhibiting 'itions In the larger cities and every -ti acting large crowds, ms unfortunate that Catlin could not illted more from his work while he lived, lis old age he lost the fortune which he ;? It up, became a bankrupt, In fact, until id left was his gallery of some 500 or jji-his Indian paintings. These he would not gave them to the Smithsonian Institu-mj- safekeeping as an Imperishable record ;es -ife work and of a vanishing race. Some 8 c' ; were destroyed or Injured In a fire which ig, " lie Institution In January, 1805, but the 3f la' remainder which are still preserved In the Smithsonian Smith-sonian are valued at not less than $1,000,000, which, if anything, Is an undervaluation, considering con-sidering their Importance. Oatlln died in 1S72 at the age of seventy-six. The same fate overtook most of the paintings of another famous artist, John Mix Stanley. For the same fire in the Smithsonian destroyed all but five of Stanley's collection of more than 150 paintings which represented 10 years of work among 43 different tribes on the southwestern prairies, In New Mexico, California and Oregon. Stanley was born In Canadaigua, N. Y., ln 1814 and died In Detroit the same year that saw the death of Catlin 1872. At the age of fourteen four-teen he became an orphan and was apprenticed to a wagon maker In Naples, N. Y., where he spent his boyhood. In 1834 he moved to Detroit De-troit and the next year his latent genius began be-gan to show itself ln a series of portraits and landscapes. In 1838-39 he made his home In Chicago and Galena, the famous lead mining center ln Illinois, and at this time he first became be-came Interested In Indians, making trips to Fort Snelllng, Minn., to paint them. From 1S39 to 1S42 he made his home again In the East and continued with his painting. His first Important work among the Indians was done in 1S42 when he visited the Indian country in Arkansas and New Mexico and made many pictures of Indians and Indian scenes. The next year he was In what Is now Oklahoma, Okla-homa, painting among the Cherokees, the Creeks, and the Delawares as well as some of the tribes In Texas. The year 1S45 found him again ln New Mexico and by this time he had painted S3 canvases which he exhibited ln Cincinnati and Louisville. In May, 1S40, Stanley returned to the West and painted the famous Sac chief, Keokuk, the wife of Black Hawk and other notables of that tribe. In October of that year he visited Santa Fe to paint some more pictures but Instead he Joined the famous march of Gteral Kearney and his dragoons from Santa Fe to San Diego, taking part ln several engagements which marked the phase of the Mexican war that was fought In California. Going north the next year Stanley found some more excitement awaiting him, for he narrowly escaped being In the Whitman massacre when that famous missionary, his wife and 11 others were killid by malcontents of the Cayuse tribe. He had another narrow escape from death a short time later when he returned to San Francisco Fran-cisco to take a certain ship for the return to New York via Cape Horn. He barely missed the ship before It sailed and It was lost at cea and never heard of again. Next Stanley went to Hawaii where he painted the portraits of tlx; famous King Kamahameha HI and his queen, which now hang in the government museum, formerly the royal palace, ln Honolulu. Returning to this country In 1850 Stanley exhibited ex-hibited his pictures ln various eastern cities and in 1853 he was appointed artist to the expedition ex-pedition sent by the government to explore a route for a Pacific railroad from St. Paul to Puget sound. Before starting on this expedition expedi-tion he deposited his collection of Indian paintings paint-ings in the Smithsonian institution. Various attempts at-tempts were made to have congress purchase the collection for the nation but nothing came of them. The pictures remained the property of the artist, so when all of them except five were destroyed In the January, 18G5, fire ln the Smithsonian, Smith-sonian, Stanley suffered a great personal loss. A list of early painters of the Indians would not be complete without including In it the name of Carl Bodmer, a Swiss artist who accompanied Prince Maximilian of Wled-Neuwled, when that distinguished German scientist made his Journey up the Missouri ln 1832-34. Bodmer not only "left posterity a priceless heritage of Indian portraits por-traits and pictures" but he also, like Catlin, made drawings of forts, fur trading posts, battle bat-tle scenes, etc., which are Invaluable historical records. In the picture by Bodmer which Is reproduced re-produced above are shown three typical warriors war-riors of the plains (from left to right) a Missouri, Mis-souri, an Oto and a Ponca. Until a few years ago there was living ln New York city another early painter of the Indian whose work takes rank with that of the artists previously mentioned. He was William De La Montagne Cnry, a New Yorker who ln 1SG1 with two companions made his way up the Missouri river from St Louis and during the next 13 years put down on canvas scenes from the fast-vanishing fast-vanishing frontier which are among the most valuable records of life ln those days which we have. Others who might be listed, even if lack of space prevents discussion of their contributions, are: Capt. Seth Eastman, a teacher of drawing at the United States Military academy at West Point, who saw service In the Indian country and was chosen to Illustrate "Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States," Issued by the government gov-ernment In 1S50; Carl WIniar, a German artist who lived among the Indians for six months ln 1S57 and some of whose paintings are preserved in his adopted city, St. Louis; F. O. C. Darley, the leading Illustrator of books and magazine articles three quarters of a century ago; and George DeForest Brush, who is still living and whose "studies of the Indian have helped to es- j tihlt?h the redskin In an Important rlace ln the art history of America." (C by Western Newspaper Union.) |