Essay - Paintbrush & Peacepipe: the Story of George Catlin, and George...

Paintbrush & Peacepipe: The Story of George Catlin, and George ***** and the Old Frontier

***** books, Paintbrush & Peacepipe: The Story ***** ***** Catlin, by Anne Rockwell ***** George Catlin and the Old Frontier, by Harold McCracken, cover almost exactly the same subject matter ***** differ most significantly in tone and style according to the vastly different audiences to which each is directed.

The first book, ***** and Peacepipe, 86 small pages in length, with 8 brief chapters and 15 illustrations, is written for children. By comparison, the second book, ***** Catlin and the ***** Frontier, with its 209 oversized pages might seem a vastly superior presentation of George Catlin's biography. The artbook format of McCracken's work, with its 36 color and 118 black and white illustrations, is far more authoritative ***** detailed in its re***** of the scope ***** Catlin's art. Yet, Paintbrush & Peacepipe, in it's minimalist manner is a highly educational and effective piece of work.

Paintbrush & Peacepipe and ***** Catlin ***** the Old Frontier both present the s*****ry of the life of George ***** who lived from 1796-1872. Catlin, an American painter and writer, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, created work that provides an unequaled source ***** knowledge of the American frontier and the Indians who were its original inhabitants. Catlin began his art career painting portraits in the eastern United States. Son of a prosperous *****mer, George ***** was educated to be an attorney at law. In 1823, however, he gave up ***** practice of ***** and established himself, with very little training, as a portrait ***** in Philadelphia. Catl***** continued to paint ***** in Washington, D.C. and Albany, New York until 1829 after which, having developed a f*****scination with Native ********** and their vanishing customs, he *****came more and more involved in a lifestyle of travel back and forth between civilization and the unsettled western area of the country. Catlin visited and ***** among tribes all throughout the west, painting **********, and writing ***** accounts ***** their ways. With St. Louis as his jumping off place he traveled t***** Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, from Dakota territory to Montana, from the headwaters of the Mississippi ***** Mexican territory in ***** southwest, on riverboat or in birchbark canoe, often alone, to visit the some forty eight tribes including: Assiniboin, Sioux, Mandan, Blackfoot, Konsa, Ojibway, Crow, Choctaw, Osage, Comanche, Ioway, Blackhawk and more. He painted individual and group portraits, village scenes, everyday activities, buffalo hunts, rituals, ***** and play. Catlin also accumulated a vast collection of Native American artifacts which he exhibited, along with his paintings in eastern cities, stimulating not only popular interest in Native American culture, but also considerable controversy.

***** became something ***** a showman by exhibiting *****s of Native Americans ***** audiences in the United States and Europe, promoting their worthiness as dignified human beings in contrast with popular public op*****ion that insisted on ***** savage nature. ***** received little h*****or during his lifetime, but now his paintings hang in the Smithsonian