The New York herald., 1872-12-24
o 3 7 U A r Y.
George CatIin, the Artist.

George Catlfn, the Artist.
This eccentric and wldely-reputed ARTIST expired
al MS home In Jersey City, yesterday morning, in
the seventy-sixth year OF his age His reputation
Is aromal with wampum and war paint, and were
we 70 construct an aliesory to his memory We
in'ens represent art ~ smoking the calumet
over MS remains and criticism as buryng the TOM
ahawk beside them Never a renresentatva
American artist 80 far as his relations To his pro
fession were concerned, yet he is in some sense
typical painter, having been the first one to enrich
his canvas With studies which owed their inspira-
tion to the Rocky Mountain region Catlin was sat.
urated with our Indian traditions, and II he never
concentrated his EFFORTS into one magnificent epc
II he never painted companion picture to the
"Hiawatha'' which Longfellow wrote, he has at
least expressed his experiences and his aspira-
tions In hundreds OF smaller works, that have &C.
cured him unique and honorable nook In the his.
tory OF American art
Catlin was born in wyoming in 1895, and after
the period Of infancy lived ten years in the
Ocquag0 Valley, employing his hands alternately
with the plough the rife and the fishing tackle.
Five years he devoted to the classics, and then,
following the advice OF his father, studied law un-
der Reeve and Gould, OF Connecticut He attended
the lectures Of these judges for two years; was
admitted to the bar; practiced three years as
sort Of "Nimrodlcal" lawyer, as he himself in one
q th a ;s dev9tng all his leisure to
books in disgust, exchanged his rife ana fishing
tackle tackle for pots and brushes, and spent 1--WE
visit OF fifteen indian chiefs there, properly
tinted and tasselled, plumed with wareagle
Rlnm,,3es, Rn,,3e, AN and % gorgeous IN tlnc and manteau,
thrilled him with Its pcturesqneness, and he forth
with determined to devote great part OF his life
to familiarizng himself with all the Indian tribes
his wife and aged parents and for eight years lived
among these savages. During that time he visited
anS 81
he brought home $40 portraits In oil, representing
indians IN their native dresses and In wigwams,
ngures and delineating every variety OF Indian
weapon and every sachem and sycamore that
mouth OF the Yellow stone; Mandan Village, on on
the Upper Missouri; Minataree village, Little
Ssg msR %2S o q ne hf ass sS
and at Fort Smelling. The work for which he was
most celebrated, and which he published on his
and Condition OF the North American Indians
with letters and notes written during eight
nine editions: It contained tyeight letters and
his reasons for believing the Mandans to have per-
Petuated the remains OF the Welsh colony estab-
supplemented with vocabulary 'a''SS Of indian Ian
LANGUAGES, showing their dissimilarity and com
its secondary or engrafted one. subsequently MIR.
Catlin went to Europe, where he remained eight
years, and where he took his Indian collection
His account OF his European sOjOurn was after
wards published in two volumes octave by burgess
Stringer y Co., OF this city, in 1S4S In England he
was received by Disraeli, the Duke and Duchess OF
Cambridge and other distinguished people. In
france King Louis Philippe was much Interested
In him, and Mr.. Catlin painted for that monarch,
ana had exhibited in the Louvre, fifteen
Indian scenes and portraits. The King OF the Bel
CLANS presented him with Q gold medal,
abroad must have In some degree consoled him
for the disappointment he experienced in his own
country. During his eight years. travel among
the Indians he had spent not less than 500 OOO had
been sustained neither by private nor public
patronage, and had been animated simply by hIs
own invincibe resolution to become the artist
historian OF dying race, to whom all his sym
pathies were given.
The points to which we have alluded are the
chief ones in this artists career Mr. Catlin was
essentially portrait painter, but by means one
OF the first class Aside from his Identification
with our Indian traditions, he would probably have
failed to make any great impression upon the pub
lic. His numerous paintings are full of Instances
out that romantic fancy and daring imagt-
nation which might have bestowed upon his
efforts an indefinitely greater artistic value. Mr..
Catlin was, at the best a disappointed man; ana
the many who visited the recent exhibition or his
works at the Somervie Art Gallery will probably
learn that the Industrious brush which excited SO
much admiration was welded by hand that had
grown weak nom inappreciatiOn. Stll, the place
he filled Is one that no one else has filed SO
well, and the memory he ls entitled to Is as honor.
able as his Jorte was peculiar.