American Pasturage - Prairies of the Platte

George Catlin executed American Pasturage - Prairies of the Platte in 1861. The work remained in the artist's possession until his death in 1872, after which it passed by descent to his daughters: Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912, the American Museum of Natural History purchased the painting directly from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

The museum retained the work until 1959, when it was sold through Kennedy Galleries of New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon subsequently donated the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965.

Following George Catlin’s death, the painting remained in his family until 1912, when it was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History. After a private sale through Kennedy Galleries in 1959 to collector Paul Mellon, the work was donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1965. Since entering the NGA’s collection, American Pasturage – Prairies of the Platte has been housed in the museum’s Washington, D.C. galleries, where it continues to exemplify Catlin’s landscape depictions of the American West and contributes to the institution’s holdings of 19th‑century American art.

George Catlin's American Pasturage - Prairies of the Platte, painted in 1865, is an oil on card landscape depicting a tranquil scene from the American West. This work represents a later phase in the career of an artist primarily recognized for his extensive documentation of Indigenous cultures and natural environments across the American frontier. It underscores his sustained interest in the vast, undeveloped territories of the continent.

Created in 1865, this landscape emerged during a period of significant exploration and settlement in the American West. Catlin himself had undertaken five expeditions to the region in the 1830s, meticulously recording both the landscapes and the cultures of the Plains Indians through his art and writings. American Pasturage thus reflects his long-standing engagement with the frontier, even decades after his initial journeys.