Beautiful Prairie Bluffs above the Poncas, 1050 Miles above St. Louis

About this artwork

"The summit level of the great prairies stretching off to the west and the east from the river, to an almost boundless extent, is from two to three hundred feet above the level of the river; which has formed a bed or valley for its course, varying in width from two to twenty miles. This channel or valley has been evidently produced by the force of the current, which has gradually excavated, in its floods and gorges, this immense space, and sent its debris into the ocean. By the continual overflo...

Art Historical Context

In 1832, artist Catlin embarked on an ambitious voyage up the Missouri River, sketching the untamed landscapes and Native American cultures of the American West.Beautiful Prairie Bluffs above the Poncas, 1050 Miles above St. Louis captures a breathtaking vista from this journey, near the lands of the Ponca people. As a pioneering documentarian, Catlin painted to preserve the frontier's natural splendor before European-American expansion forever altered it, creating one of the earliest visual records of these remote prairies. Catlin's vivid depiction shows the river's serpentine path through a...

About the Artist

George Catlin · 1796–1872

George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...