Blackbird’s Grave, a Back View, Prairies Enameled with Flowers

Artist
Location
Omaha Reservation, Nebraska, USA
Date
1832
Materials
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
28.6 x 36.6 cm
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, gifts of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Locate on map View in timeline About the artist

Known primarily as a portrait painter, George Catlin traveled throughout the Midwestern territories of the United States, documenting the Indigenous peoples who lived there. He was so moved by landscapes along the upper Missouri River, however, that he also created numerous minute scenes of the lush natural environments that he encountered. Catlin assembled over 500 of these portraits and landscape sketches into a traveling show that he called his Indian Gallery. These works emphasized the dignity of Native American tribes but also reinforced commonly held notions of their eventual extinction as “noble” savages.