Wild West Paintings of Native Americans

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Slide 1

Wild West Paintings

By George Catlin

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Slide 2

Biography

George Catlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1796. Following a brief career as a lawyer, he produced two major collections of paintings of American Indians.

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Slide 3

Traveling

He traveled with General William Clark on a diplomatic mission up the Mississippi River into Native American territory. St. Louis became Catlin's base of operations for five trips he took between 1830 and 1836, eventually visiting fifty tribes

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Slide 4

Mah-to-toh-pa, Four Bears, Second Chief in the Mandan Indian Tribe

Based on clues (costume, posture, headdress), what can you tell me about the person in the painting?

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Slide 5

If George Catlin would have painted Four Bears in a chair would that leave you with a different impression of this Chief?

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Slide 6

The White Cloud-Head Chief of Iowa

Why do you think he was painted with a big green hand on his face?

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Slide 7

Native Americans would decorate their faces to express themselves.What do you think the hand is telling us now?

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Slide 8

Big Elk

Here is another example of the Native Americans using decoration on their face.

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Slide 9

What do you think these marking represent?

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Slide 10

If they were decorated with hand prints it meant that they were good at hand-to-hand fighting.

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