Native Americans of the 1800s

Here are 54 famous paintings done in the early 1800s of Native Americans. Displayed in this screen saver is artwork by the premier artists of American Indian life, George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and McKinney and Hall. In the 1830s, George Catlin (1796-1872) took his paintbrushes and explored remote Indian country in the Great Plains. Catlin documented traditional Native culture, as he visited more than 140 tribes and painted in excess of 325 portraits and 200 scenes of American Indian life. Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) was born in Switzerland. In 1832 he was hired by Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied to provide a record of the prince's travels in North America, primarily among the Plains Indians. In the company of David Dreidoppel (the prince's servant and hunting companion), their travels in North America lasted from 1832 to 1834. Bodmer made detailed illustrations of the life, habits and customs of the Indians. McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America' (published from 1836 to 1844) has long been renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans. The hand colored lithograph portraits are largely based on oil paintings by the artist Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War Department to paint the Indian delegates who visited Washington D.C. in 1821 to meet with President Monroe.