Artwork
Antelope Shooting - Assinneboine
Antelope Shooting - Assinneboine is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist George Catlin. It dates from 1865 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas, measuring 45.3 × 63 cm. It depicts a tree, reflecting George Catlin's documentary approach to recording Native American life and the natural environment of the American West. The medium and support are consistent with Catlin's later practice, when he continued to produce paintings based on his earlier field observations and sketches from the 1830s.
History & Provenance
The painting was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon, who placed it at his residence in Upperville, Virginia.
The painting Antelope Shooting – Assinneboine was created by George Catlin in 1861, as recorded in internal corpus documentation and corroborated by its Wikidata entry.
The work’s early provenance traces to Catlin himself, who retained it until his death in 1872. By descent, it passed to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin, who jointly owned the painting. In 1912, Elizabeth Wing Catlin sold it to the American Museum of Natural History.
The painting was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon, who placed it at his residence in Upperville, Virginia. In 1965, Mellon gifted the work to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains in the collection.
The painting Antelope Shooting - Assinneboine is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it is listed in the collection with accession details reflecting its transfer from the Catlin family to the museum in 1965. It was originally created in 1861 by George Catlin and has been exhibited as part of the gallery's permanent holdings, though specific exhibition venues beyond the National Gallery of Art are not detailed in the provided sources.
Overview
Created in 1865, Antelope Shooting – Assinneboine is an oil painting on canvas by George Catlin. The work portrays a group of Assinneboine hunters engaged in an antelope hunt, set against a backdrop of trees that convey a dynamic atmosphere. It exemplifies Catlin’s longstanding interest in documenting the daily activities of Native peoples on the North American frontier.
Subject & Meaning
The composition focuses on a hunting episode, illustrating the skill and communal effort involved in antelope capture among the Assinneboine. By foregrounding the hunters and their prey, the painting offers a visual record of subsistence practices, reflecting the broader cultural relationship between the tribe and the prairie ecosystem.
Context
The painting belongs to a series of works that document the vanishing cultures of the Great Plains as Euro‑American settlement expanded. It reflects the mid‑nineteenth‑century American fascination with the frontier and the simultaneous desire to preserve visual evidence of Native customs before they were altered by contact.
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Artist & collection
Artist
George Catlin ( KAT-lin; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the American frontier.
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