Magnificent Clay Bluffs, 1800 Miles above St. Louis
1832
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
1985.66.370
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin was captivated by the landscape along the Missouri River, which was so different from his native Pennsylvania. He described this view of the naturally formed âdomesâ and âtowersâ as âone of the most grand and beautiful scenes of the kind to be met with in this country.â He supposed that the black line above the water was a vein of coal. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
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 ...