Elk Grazing on an Autumn Prairie

About this artwork

The numbers and variety of game on the Plains provided a varied diet for Catlin and the soldiers and traders who lived along the frontier. In 1835, Catlin returned from Fort Snelling to Prairie du Chien, this time by canoe, living principally on game during the trip. “My voyage from the mouth of the Teton River to this place has been the most rugged, yet the most delightful, of my whole Tour. Our canoe was generally landed at night on the point of some projecting barren sand-bar, where we stra...

Art Historical Context

George Catlin’s “k Grazing on an Prairie,” painted between 184 and 1848, reflects the artist’s deep familiarity with the American Plains gained during his extensive travels in the 1830. Catlin, celebrated for documenting both Native peoples and the region’s abundant wildlife, often drew from firsthand experiences of frontier life. The scene evokes the open grasslands where elk and other game thrived, offering a glimpse of the natural richness that sustained travelers, soldiers, and traders along the frontier. During one notable 1835 canoe journey from the Teton River to Prairie du Chien, Catl...

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 ...