Flathead Indians

Flathead Indians was painted by George Catlin in 1861. After Catlin’s death the work passed to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912 Elizabeth Wing Catlin sold the painting to the American Museum of Natural History.

It remained there until 1959, when it was sold through Kennedy Galleries in New York to collector Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon donated the work to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965, where it remains today.

George Catlin's Flathead Indians, created in 1861, is an oil on card mounted on paperboard. The painting depicts three Indigenous men from the Flathead tribe standing alongside a prominent tree. This work forms part of Catlin's extensive artistic endeavor to document Native American cultures and their ways of life across the American frontier, reflecting his commitment to recording these societies during a period of significant change.

The composition features three Flathead men, attired in buckskins, positioned next to a tall tree. This natural motif frequently appeared in Catlin's works, often functioning as a backdrop or a symbolic element. Catlin's overarching goal was to capture the distinct identities and daily existence of various Indigenous groups, believing his art could serve as a visual record of their cultures as they confronted profound societal shifts.

George Catlin devoted a substantial portion of his career to chronicling Native American life. Throughout the 1830s, he undertook five extensive journeys across the American West, interacting directly with numerous Indigenous communities. His comprehensive body of work, including this painting, functioned as an ethnographic record, designed to illustrate the customs, appearances, and environments of these diverse cultures for a broad audience.