492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



condition. Spencer F. Baird, then Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and Mr. Donaldson were eager to see that as much of the 

 collection as possible should be salvaged and preserved. Donaldson's 

 suggestion that the collection be made a part of the national collec- 

 tion was received with favor by Mr. Harrison's widow. On May 

 15, 1879, the George Catlin collection was given to the Nation by 

 Mrs. Joseph Harrison of Philadelphia. 



Examination of the valuable ethnological specimens revealed that 

 many of them were destroyed by the actions of fire, water, and insect 

 pests. There is no record of paintings in the collections which may 

 have been destroyed. But it is remarkable that by far the greater 

 part of Catlin's original collection of oil paintings was salvaged. No 

 fewer than 80 percent of the 507 paintings listed in Catlin's Indian 

 Gallery on its London opening in 1840 are preserved in the Division 

 of Ethnology of the U. S. National Museimi. One-third (33) of the 

 additional 100 paintings which he executed in Europe between 1840 

 and 1848 are also preserved there. 



CATLIN'S PAINTING METHODS 



George Catlin rarely mentioned his painting methods in his own 

 writings. His pictures, however, reveal two distinct styles. One of 

 these may be termed his studio-portrait style. Its outstanding ex- 

 ample is his portrait of Osceola executed in 1838 (pi. 6) . Osceola was 

 then a Seminole War hero for whose portrait there was a popular de- 

 mand. Catlin visited him in prison and slowly and realistically 

 rendered Osceola's physical appearance and the details of his costume. 

 Osceola's grandfather was a Scotclunan and the Caucasian strain is 

 apparent in the features and complexion of Catlin's portrait. Few 

 other half-length portraits by Catlin approach this one as finished 

 works of art. 



Catlin's second style we may term his impressionistic or field-sketch- 

 ing style. He achieved it through a remarkably disciplined coordina- 

 tion of eye and hand, quick observation, and rapid execution. If his 

 subject was a person, Catlin tried to catch a likeness in a few deft 

 strokes of his brush. If it was an Indian activity, he merely suggested 

 the position and actions of the figures with a like economy of time and 

 paint. If it was a landscape, he indicated the general character of 

 the country without dwelling on the details. This bold simplification 

 of man and nature is typical of the great majority of paintings in the 

 Catlin Collection in the U. S. National Museum. Only by employ- 

 ing a sort of pictorial shorthand could even the energetic Catlin 

 have performed the amazing feats he accomplished on some of his 

 field trips. 



