Buffalo Chase, Sioux Indians, Upper Missouri by Catlin, George
This is Buffalo Chase, Sioux Indians, Upper Missouri, painted by George Catlin in 1865. It's an oil painting on card, mounted on paperboard, and it documents a way of life that was disappearing even as the paint dried. Catlin was a lawyer who left the courtroom behind to travel the American frontier five times during the 1830s, determined to record the customs of Plains Indians before they were lost forever.
Look at the central rider, the feathered headdress sweeping back with the speed of the charge. Catlin's brushwork is straightforward and observational, never idealized, using earthy greens and browns against a muted blue sky. The panicked bison and strained horse musculature convey the raw, dangerous energy of the hunt.
In 2012, this small slice of American history was stolen from a museum. It became the subject of an FBI art crime investigation and was eventually recovered in an undercover sting operation. The catalog numbers and artist's initials you see on the piece helped confirm its identity.
Art isn't just about beauty; sometimes it's evidence.
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A Sioux hunter, mid-chase, on the open plains. The artist traveled the frontier five times in the 1830s. He documented a world on the brink of vanishing. In 2012, this painting vanished from a museum. The FBI recovered it in a sting operation.