K'nisteneux Indians Attacking Two Grizzly Bears

The work is an oil painting executed on a rigid card that has been affixed to a paperboard support, a technique reflected in its classification as a painting and its genre as a genre scene. Measured at 47.3 cm by 63.5 cm, the composition dates to 1861 and portrays a tree within a narrative of K'nisteneux Indians confronting two grizzly bears. The piece belongs to the National Gallery of Art’s collection in Washington, D.C., having entered the museum through a series of descents and purchases documented in its provenance.

George Catlin completed K'nisteneux Indians Attacking Two Grizzly Bears in 1861 using oil on card mounted on paperboard, a composition that illustrates a dramatic encounter between the K'nisteneux people and two grizzly bears. The work remained in the artist’s family after its creation, passing to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912 the painting was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History from Elizabeth Wing Catlin, later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon, and finally gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1965, where it is presently held.

Following its creation in 1861, the painting remained within the artist George Catlin's family, passing to his daughters upon his death. The American Museum of Natural History acquired the work from Elizabeth Wing Catlin in 1912. In 1959, the museum sold the piece through Kennedy Galleries in New York to collector Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia.

Mellon subsequently gifted the artwork to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965, where it currently resides.

No specific exhibition history or inventory accession numbers for these institutions are provided in the available records.

George Catlin's painting, "K'nisteneux Indians Attacking Two Grizzly Bears," created in 1865, is an oil on card mounted on paperboard. This work exemplifies American folk art and depicts a dramatic encounter between Indigenous figures and wildlife. Catlin, originally trained in law, dedicated his artistic career to documenting the lives and cultures of Native American peoples, a focus evident in this later piece despite his primary travels occurring decades earlier.

George Catlin transitioned from a legal profession to pursue painting, driven by a desire to record Native American life in the American West. During the 1830s, he undertook five extensive journeys, producing numerous portraits and scenes of Plains Indian communities. Although "K'nisteneux Indians Attacking Two Grizzly Bears" was painted much later in 1865, it reflects Catlin's enduring commitment to portraying Indigenous subjects and their interactions with the natural world, drawing upon his earlier experiences.