Buffalo Chase in the Snow Drifts - Ojibbeway

George Catlin executed "Buffalo Chase in the Snow Drifts - Ojibbeway" in 1861 as an oil painting on card mounted to paperboard. Following the artist's death in 1872, the work 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 piece directly from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

The museum subsequently sold the painting in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries of New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon retained the work until 1965, at which point he gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains in the collection.

The painting Buffalo Chase in the Snow Drifts - Ojibbeway is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It was acquired by the museum in 1965 as a gift from Mr. Paul Mellon. The work entered the collection through a series of transactions beginning with its creation by George Catlin in 1861, followed by descent through his daughters, a 1912 purchase by the American Museum of Natural History, a 1959 sale via Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon, and finally its 1965 donation to the National Gallery of Art.

George Catlin painted Buffalo Chase in the Snow Drifts - Ojibbeway in 1861, an oil on card work now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.. The landscape depicts a tree and belongs to Catlin's broader series documenting Ojibwe life and Arctic and American frontier scenes. Its provenance traces from the artist's daughters to the American Museum of Natural History, then through Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon before its 1965 donation to the National Gallery of Art.

George Catlin’s oil painting on card, mounted on paperboard, portrays a winter buffalo stampede on the Ojibwe trail. Dark silhouettes of bison surge across a deep snowfield, while a solitary rider on horseback follows the herd, almost swallowed by the white expanse. The work dates to the mid‑1860s and reflects Catlin’s long‑term project of recording Indigenous life.

The scene captures a moment of Ojibwe hunting practice, emphasizing the relationship between the tribe, the horse, and the bison in a harsh winter environment. By depicting the chase in snow, Catlin highlights both the vitality of the hunt and the challenges posed by the northern climate.