Previous Artifacts - September 2007

 

 

Conserved Catlin Prints

After two years of conservation, original prints from George Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio: Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America are going back on exhibit.   Printed in 1844, the lithographs once again display the vivid colors and hues that Catlin originally intended, thanks to staff at the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center and funds from the Siouxland Heritage Museums' Endowment. 

The exhibit will include explanation and images of the

conservation process, and will be open from mid-August to mid-December.

 

George Catlin traveled the Great Plains throughout the 1830s, living among the Indians and meticulously recording what he experienced.  He completed over 500 paintings and in 1842 published his highly acclaimed Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians.

 

Catlin visited what is now South Dakota in 1832 aboard the Yellowstone, the first steamboat to ply the waters of the upper Missouri.  He then drifted downstream in a canoe, visiting many tribes along the way.

 

Among Catlin’s greatest contributions was his observation of the Mandans.  He recorded and made paintings of many phases of their culture not witnessed before or after.  Five years after his visit, in 1837, the Mandans were decimated by a smallpox epidemic.

 

Truly a man of vision, George Catlin foresaw the demise of traditional American Indian culture.  His life was devoted to preserving this heritage on canvas and print.