■' A Dog Feast was offered by the Sioux chiefs of the Upper Missouri, in 1832. to Mr. 

 Sanford (the Indian agent). Pierre Choteau, K McKenzic, and the author. The greatest 

 pledge of respect and fricndshii) the Indians can give to strangers in their country is in the 

 • Dog Feast,' in which the fL>-;li of tiieir favorite dogs must necessarily be served." (This is tlie 

 artist's inscriplirin on his p.iinting] 



THE CATLIN PAINTINGS 



Bii Clark Wl^sln- 



THE famous cartocMi collection ^ of Indian .sketches in oil made by 

 Cieorge Catlin, the celebrated Indian writer and painter, has been 

 purchased for the Museum hy ^Ir. Ogden Mills. These cainases, 

 left at the death of the artist in 1872 in the possession of his daughter, 

 Miss Elizabeth W. ("atlin, who still resides in New York City, iia\-e great 

 historical value because they are the earliest authentic sketches rej)rescnt- 

 ing the customs, ceremonies and habitations of the wild Indian tril)es. 

 When Catlin visited these tribes they were practically iniinHuenced by ci\-ili- 

 zation: it was a time when Indian life was real, not transitional as later. 

 Mr. Deming, the well-known artist .says regarding the work. "I have known 

 Indians for forty years and have seen many who were very little influenced 

 by contact with the white man and I can \()uch for the truthfulness of these 

 pictures. They are, outside of Hodmer's ami Captain Eastman's pictures, 

 the only record we have of the Plains Indians and are valuable as a pictorial 

 record. I want to speak of another view which the scientist does not 

 appreciate. These ("atlin pictures are the most dccorati\(' Indian pictures 



' The collection contains 417 pictures — US showing types of North .Vmerican Indians, 

 112. customs of North .American Indians, 19, ceremonies of North American Indians, 28 are 

 landscapes and hunting scenes, and 19 deiiict South American natives and landscapes, while 

 49 treat of misci'llaneous subjects. Among the latter is a series of 24 representing the life 

 history of the famous La Salle and his wanderings up antl down the Mississii)pi. Some 2.50 

 of the sketches portray types and scenes from American Indian life as observed among the 

 dilTerent trilies of the Missouri Valley from 18:52-1840. Many of them are the original 

 paintings for the plates in the author's well-known books. 



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