The Only Good Indian Is A Dead Indian By George Catlin Summary

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American Studies Art Review I have chosen to write a review about George Catlin whose field of work was primitive Indians or Native Americans. His work was a uphill battle. It was an uphill battle because the rest of society thought as native American as less than human. He was the first white man to portrait plains indians in their native territory. Looking over the many portraits he painted of native Americans it clearly shows the pride and honor they had for themselves. Catlin’s ideas of native Americans was that of the opposite of what society thought. As the book says “the only good Indian is a dead Indian”. Catlin was fascinated in Indians and wanted to show a side the real side of Indians and not that of what society portrayed them as. Catlin portrayed them as a people with strong and dignified ways of life. In a journal entry George Catlin wrote a very unpopular opinion but a strong and true viewpoint about the Indian people: “ I love a people without laws, who have no jails and no poor-house… who never take the name of God in vain… who worship God without a bible, and I believe that God loves them also… who are free …show more content…

it is interesting to read that during one of his exhibits/lectures at the Stuyvesant Hall on November 1st, 1837. He invited Kee-o-kuk, the chief of the Sauks and Foxes. The chief, his wife and twenty members of his tribe were also in attendance. The tribe sat on an elevated stage in view of the audience and would have an unobstructed view of the lecture. when Catlin displayed the portrait of the chief on his favorite warhorse all the tribe members sprang to their feet and began jabbering and yelling. The chief eventually calmed his people down and said (with the help of a translator) “my friends, I hope you will pardon my men for making so much noise, as they were very much excited b seeing me on my favorite war-hours, which they all recognized in a