Osage Indians

1861/1869

George Catlin

Artist, American, 1796 - 1872

Three men, a woman, and a baby sit or stand facing us in a row in front of a landscape within an oval-shaped painted frame in this horizontal painting. The Osage people have medium-brown skin, and the woman and baby have black hair. To our left, the woman sits on a tree stump and holds the nude child in her lap. Her long hair is loose, and she wears turquoise-colored earrings. Her floral-patterned wrap exposes one breast and comes down to her ankles. She wears tan-colored shoes, perhaps moccasins. The baby reaches for and grabs the woman’s necklaces. To our right, the man closest to the woman sits with his legs crossed, and the other two men stand. All three are bald with feathered headdresses, thick collars and necklaces, earrings, and red shapes and lines painted on their heads and bare chests and arms. They wear tan-colored, slightly baggy pants and knee-high moccasins. The seated man has three silver cuff bracelets and a wrap around his lap. An instrument he cradles in one elbow is long and narrow, and it widens slightly as it reaches a head that angles back from the body. It appears to be made of wood and the top surface painted red. One of the standing men holds a spear and the other bow and arrows. The landscape is faintly painted behind them. The pale green grass and trees meet the watery blue and very pale peach-colored sky about halfway up the composition. The scene is enclosed in a gray oval frame on a shell-pink card mounted on paperboard. A label with the number 52 is affixed at the top center of the board.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

During the mid-19th century, George Catlin created two large collections of paintings featuring portraits of Native Americans, genre scenes, and western landscapes. The first collection, which he called his "Indian Gallery," included more than 500 works completed during the 1830s. Most of the surviving paintings from this group are now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. During the 1850s and 1860s, Catlin created a second collection, numbering more than 600 works, which he called his "Cartoon Collection." The surviving works from this collection were acquired by the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1912. Paul Mellon purchased more than 300 paintings from the Cartoon Collection when they were deaccessioned. In 1965, he gave 351 works from this collection to the National Gallery of Art.

When Catlin exhibited the Cartoon Collection in New York in 1871, he published a catalog listing all the works. The catalog entries often included additional information about the subject of each painting. Catlin's catalog entry for this painting follows.

"Cart. No. 52. Oságe.

a. -- Cler-mónt (-----); head chief of the tribe, armed with his war club.

b. -- Wa-chée-te (-----); an Osage woman, wife and child of the chief.

c. -- Mun-ne-pús-kee (He who Fears Nothing).

d. -- Nah-cóm-e-sah (The Man of the Bed); two young warriors, armed and equipped for war.

A numerous and warlike tribe, on the River Arkansaw. 1836."


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on card mounted on paperboard

  • Credit Line

    Paul Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 46.2 x 62.2 cm (18 3/16 x 24 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1965.16.69


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1973

  • Pictures of the American Indian by George Catlin, Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, 1973, no. 26.

  • [Catlin exhibition], Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1973.

1982

  • Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1982-1989.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 29.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 93, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 82, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20188554


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