Reclaiming the Land,Reclaiming the Indian: The La Salle Series of George Catlin |
| |
Authors: | Kate Elliott |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Art, Luther College, Decorah, IA, USAellika03@luther.edu |
| |
Abstract: | In 1847, American painter George Catlin completed a series of paintings depicting La Salle's travels through North America, ostensibly at the request of King Louis-Philippe. This article argues that the La Salle series is an unusually coherent statement by Catlin about the value of the American wilderness and Native American culture for white America. A close examination of the paintings and Catlin's writing exposes the La Salle series as a reclamation project in which Catlin sought to rescue an imagined “pure” past at contact and preserve it in paint in order to make it available and useful to the present. |
| |
Keywords: | George Catlin La Salle Versailles painting Native Americans |
|
|