A Small Tobos Village

George Catlin painted A Small Tobos Village in 1866, creating an oil on card mounted on paperboard landscape depicting a tree. The work descended through his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin before being purchased in 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History. It was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries, New York, to Paul Mellon in Upperville, VA, and gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.

The painting remains part of the National Gallery of Art's collection in Washington, D.C., where it is catalogued with an inception date of 1866 and dimensions of 46.5 cm by 62.6 cm.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it resides with the accession number 1965.12.1.

It was first in the collection of the artist’s daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin, before being purchased in 1912 by the American Museum of Natural History. In 1959 it was sold through Kennedy Galleries, New York, to Paul Mellon, who donated it to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.

The painting's enduring presence in a major institution has cemented its reputation as a representative example of Catlin's ethnographic landscapes. Its journey from the artist's family to the National Gallery of Art and its continued display underscore its significance within 19th-century American art. The work is frequently referenced in scholarship on early depictions of indigenous village life, reflecting its lasting influence on the interpretation of frontier subjects.

Created in 1862, A Small Tobos Village is an oil painting executed on card that has been mounted on paperboard. The composition centers on a solitary, robust tree whose leafy canopy dominates the scene, while modest wooden structures form a quiet settlement behind it.

The painting belongs to a later phase of Catlin’s oeuvre, when his earlier, more populated depictions of Native communities gave way to quieter, more solitary landscapes. This shift mirrors a broader 19th‑century interest in the vanishing frontier and the nostalgic preservation of remote locales.