VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with theSpecial English program EXPLORATIONS. Today we present the secondpart of our program about American artist George Catlin and hispaintings of Native Americans.
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VOICE ONE:
Last week, we told how George Catlin had begun his working lifeas a lawyer. However, he was not happy with this work. He gave upthe law and began painting, first in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania andlater in New York City.
He became a successful painter. He painted large and smallpaintings of people. But he still felt that he needed to paintsomething that was important.
George Catlin decided to paint Native Americans after he saw adelegation of Indians on their way to Washington, D-C.
By the year eighteen-thirty, he had traveled to Saint Louis,Missouri. From there he traveled north into lands that few whiteAmericans had ever seen. It was here that he met the first of themany American Indians he would paint.
VOICE TWO:
George Catlin left many letters telling about his travels. Hewrote that he often traveled alone, with only his horse, “Charlie.”He carried his painting supplies and enough food for a few days.
He also carried a rifle for hunting. Between eighteen-thirty andeighteen thirty-six, Mister Catlin made five trips into areas of theWest that were considered unexplored Indian country. He traveledmany thousands of kilometers and visited fifty different tribes.
VOICE ONE:
George Catlin painted almost everything he saw. He paintedpictures of unusual land that no white person had ever seen before.He painted Native American men, women, and children. He paintedtheir clothes, weapons and villages. He painted the people takingpart in religious ceremonies, dances and the hunting of buffalo. Heoften painted three pictures in one day.
George Catlin tried to capture in paint the Native Americanpeople and their culture. For example, he painted many pictures ofIndians playing a ball game. The game is played with a stick thathas a small net at one end. The net is used to control the ball.This Native American game is still played in the United States andother countries today. It is called by the name the French gave it –”lacrosse.”
George Catlin also kept exact records of the people, places andevents. Most of his paintings include the names of the people andwhen they were painted.
VOICE TWO:
George Catlin began to have deep feelings about the people thathe painted. He learned a great deal about them. He learned that theywere honest. They were intelligent. They represented differentcultures that had great value. George Catlin believed that many ofthe men he painted were great leaders in their own culture and wouldhave been great leaders in any culture.
He believed the Native American Indians were people of greatworth. He also understood that the Indians could not block or stopthe westward movement of white people in America. He believed thatthe American Indian would quickly disappear.
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VOICE ONE:
George Catlin put together a collection of his many paintings. Hecalled the display George Catlin’s Indian Gallery. He began showingthe paintings in many cities in the United States. He also gave longspeeches about the Indians he lived with.
He told those who came to his talks that he had never felt afraidwhile living in Native American villages. He said no one everthreatened him or stole anything from him. He tried to make peopleunderstand what a great people Native Americans were. He said hugeareas of the country should be left for Native Americans to enjoylife as they always had.
VOICE TWO:
Many people criticized George Catlin. Some said the people in hispictures did not really look as intelligent and brave as he hadpainted them. They said the religious ceremonies he painted werefalse and that Indians did not really have ball games. Some criticssaid George Catlin had invented these people.
The critics made George Catlin angry. He began to seek whiteAmericans who had traveled in Indian country. He asked armyofficers, fur traders and others to sign documents that said thepeople and events he painted were real. The critics stopped sayinghis paintings were a lie.
VOICE ONE:
George Catlin took his collection of paintings to Europe. He alsotook many objects made by American Indians. The George Catlin IndianGallery was popular in London, England and in Paris, France. Frenchart experts praised his paintings. His paintings and speeches werepopular. Many people paid money to visit his Indian Gallery, but hedid not earn enough money. He soon had financial problems.
Mister Catlin returned to the United States. There were aboutfive-hundred paintings in his Indian Gallery. He offered to sellthem to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D-C. Severalpeople worked to have the United States government buy the paintingsfor the Smithsonian. However, Congress never approved a measureneeded for the sale.
VOICE TWO:
George Catlin found a buyer for his Indian Gallery. It was JosephHarrison, a businessman in Philadelphia. Mister Harrison bought thepaintings but did nothing with them. For many years they were leftin a room in his factory. Mister Catlin was able to pay most of hisdebts from the money he earned by selling his paintings. He beganpainting again.
His new paintings were displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’sfamous building called the castle. For the last year of his life, heworked in a room in that building provided by the museum. GeorgeCatlin died in eighteen-seventy-two. His famous Indian Gallerypaintings were still in a room in Mister Harrison’s factory. A fireat the factory almost destroyed them.
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VOICE ONE:
In eighteen-seventy-nine, the Secretary of the SmithsonianInstitution was Spencer Baird. Mister Baird knew the historic valueof George Catlin’s paintings. The owner of the paintings, JosephHarrison, had died. So Mister Baird began to negotiate with JosephHarrison’s wife, Sarah. He asked her to give the collection to theSmithsonian.
Missus Harrison agreed. She gave George Catlin’s famous IndianGallery to the Smithsonian. The gift also included many Indianobjects that Catlin had collected. These included maps books,letters and other papers that told George Catlin’s story.
Sarah Harrison’s gift was one of the most important ever receivedby the Smithsonian. For more than one-hundred-twenty-five years, thepublic has been able to see George Catlin’s paintings. Art critics,art students and western history experts have studied and examinedthem.
VOICE TWO:
Today, George Catlin’s Indian Gallery is on display at theSmithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery. The paintingshave been carefully cleaned for this event. They look new and fresh,as if they were painted recently.
Many of the objects that appear in his paintings are also ondisplay: An Indian chief’s war shirt. A child’s bed. Bows andarrows. Shoes.
Art experts have praised and criticized George Catlin’s work.Some say he was not a good artist and could not paint the human bodywell. Others say this is because he painted very quickly. Mostcritics say his paintings of people’s faces are beautiful. They seemalive and real.
VOICE ONE:
The Smithsonian will hold many special events at the RenwickGallery that deal with Native Americans, George Catlin and art.These include demonstrations of traditional Native American dances,decorating clothing, music and songs. Experts will discuss themeaning and design of the decorations on Indian clothing. Intwo-thousand-four, many of the Catlin paintings will travel toKansas City, Missouri; then to Los Angeles, California, and then toHouston, Texas.
You can see many of George Catlin’s paintings on the Internet byusing a search engine. Type the name George Catlin, C-A-T-L-I-N orthe Renwick Gallery, R-E-N-W-I-C-K.
VOICE TWO:
George Catlin was afraid the American Indian would disappear fromthe Earth. That was one of the reasons he painted so many differenttribes and different people. He wanted a record to leave forhistory.
George Catlin was wrong. The American Indian did not disappear.But his paintings provide a close look at the people, places andevents from a time that is now long gone.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byCaty Weaver. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS, aprogram in Special English on the Voice of America.