Háh-je-day-ah'-shee, Meeting Birds, a Brave
1835-1836
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Accession Number
1985.66.184
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin painted this image of Meeting Birds, a member of the Ojibwe/Chippewa tribe, either in 1835 at Fort Snelling, a military post in present-day Minnesota, or in 1836 near Sault Ste. Marie. He described Meeting Birds as “a brave, with his war-club in his hand.” Catlin later wrote about Indian weapons: “Their primitive clubs are curiously carved in wood, and fashioned out with some considerable picturesque form and grace; are admirably fitted to the hand, and calculated to deal a deadly ...
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 ...