Catlin, GEORGE

Catlin, GEORGE, one of the first authorities on the habits of the North American Indians, was born in Pennsylvania in 1796. He was bred to the law, but soon turned to drawing and painting, which he had taught himself. In 1832 he went to the Far West to study the native Indians, and spent the next eight years among them, everywhere painting portraits of individuals (not less than 470 full length) and pictures illustrative of life and manners, which are now in the National Museum at Washington. Catlin next travelled (1852-57) in South and Central America, and lived in Europe until 1871. At London in 1841 he published his learned and amply illustrated Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, and in 1844 The North American Portfolio. He died at Jersey City, December 23, 1872. Other books are Notes of Eight Years in Europe (1848); The Breath of Life, or Mal-Respiration (1861), on the benefit of keeping one's mouth always closed.