Catching the Wild Horse--no. 4
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
1985.66.386,599D
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of 19th-century American art George Catlin's *Catching the Wild Horse--no. 4* captures a thrilling moment from Plains Indian life. This undated graphic arts print, part of the Smithsonian American Art's collection, depicts a dynamic scene of hunters pursuing a wild horse amid a sweeping landscape. Catlin, a pioneering artist and ethnographer, devoted his career to documenting Native American cultures before they were forever altered by westward expansion. Traveling extensively in the 1830s, he sketched and painted over 600 works portraying indigenous peoples, their customs...
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 ...