This is a wonderful book! It accompanies an exhibit of hundreds of Catlin's paintings held in Washington DC in 2002, and scheduled to travel to several other cities. The reproductions are superb (the best I've ever seen) - the colors are true, and the sizes are often full-page and sometimes double-page. A brief commentary accompanies each painting, and there are also lengthy essays describing Catlin's life, his time in Europe, and his connection with the Smithsonian.
I bought Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, etc at the same time that I bought this book, and I read the two of them together. The paintings are immeasurably enhanced by Catlin's comments and stories (he is a great story-teller). He explains what's happening in the crowd scenes (and it is sometimes hair-raising!), and he gives interesting background on the people shown in the portraits. Looked at in this way, the paintings really come alive. Very highly recommended.

George Catlin was the first artist to document the Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri, not only through his paintings but also through his "Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians," which remains an important source of ethnographic information. In 1832, Catlin traveled up the Missouri River from St. Louis to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. Two year later Catlin traveled from Fort Gibson to Comanche Country. In this juvenile biography, Nancy Plain tells of Catlin's journies and how he became celebrated as "the Medicine Painter." This volume presents 18 of Catlin's paintings in full color, which includes portraits (e.g., "Chief One Horn," "White Buffalo," and "Osceola"), scenes of Indian life (e.g., ceremonial dances and buffalo hunts), and landscapes (e.g., the Missouri River). Catlin has a distinctive style and his Indian Gallery remains one of the most treasured collections of the Smithsonian Institute. Plain tells of Catlin's adventures ... and of what happened to his paintings, which necessarily means that outside of the actual paintings there is little about Native American culture. However, I would think that a book using Catlin's art to talk about the culture and customs of the Plains Indians would be particularly appealing to young readers. The back of the book includes a bibliography of not only nonfiction books about the Native Americans that George Catlin painted, but also works of fiction as well. There is also a list of museums and videos that display Catlin's art. So certainly after reading "The Man Who Painted Indians" young readers and their teachers will have ways of moving beyond this introductory text. Other Benchmark Biographies look at Bessie Coleman, Frederick Douglass, Jane Goodall, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Liliuokalani, which makes this a most eclectic collection of biographies.

There are two ways of looking at this book. For any serious student, anthropologist or researcher interested in the history of the Plains Indians, this is clearly an important book. Catlin offers detailed, first-hand descriptions of Indian culture and customs of the 1830s, preserving in text and pictures a way of life that would soon disappear.

For the more casual reader, "Letters and Notes" still offers much, but you will need to be more selective. Catlin, for example, provides meticulous descriptions of the Indians' clothing, jewelry, weapons, cooking instruments and other artifacts. The reader can get bogged down in these sections, so unless you have a particular interest in any of these things, it's best to skim past them.

Skip ahead to the action. Find the sections where Catlin recounts events that he witnessed or directly participated in. Catlin's account of buffalo hunting, for example, is vivid and exciting. Some other parts are funny, such as the dog feast.

Above all, be sure to read the description of the Mandan religious ceremony. It's grotesque, to be sure, but you'll never forget it.

Although the writing style is archaic, to the modern reader, and his art is stiff and two-dimensional, George Catlin manages in these volumes to convey the wonder and limitless beauty of a wild land. He captures the individual personality of many of the warriors, chiefs and women he met. George Catlin saw with an unusual clarity the inevitable end of the way of life of his subjects. And saw it long before most in civilized America. His goal was to record the variety, habits, and lifestyle of a people he realized would soon be gone. In the process he left us with a work of ethnography that is detailed, objective, and not riddled with interpretation. AND--most of it is a great read.

Once in a while you come across a book that all other research documents for that subject matter refer to. Catlin, Lewis And Clarke. In North American ethnography, these two are the ultimate reference sources even though they present a viewpoint that not all would agree with. We are extremely fortunate that these texts are so readable also.

This takes place some 30 years after Lewis and Clark... Excellent documentary of the North American culture just before the BIG change. Its evident Catlin realizes this change and through his travels, he meticulously describes the native civilizations from an eyewitness account. In the final chapter, he makes a bold hypothesis concerning the origins of a particular tribe: the Madans. Fascinating!

George Catlin is certainly a man to admire, as is this book.Catlin lived amongst the Native Americans for many years and writes carefully of his experiences.This is an interesting read and provides another dimension to the subject of American Indians.The book is fascinating in as much as Catlin portrays himself as a wordly man and a friend of the Indians ( And he certainly was)but despite that you can still find evidence of his ignorance within the text.Nevertheless he was a fascinating man who had a fascinating life,his artwork allthough basic in my mind, is well worth a look.My only critiscm of this book is that quite some time is spent describing the scenery whereas I would have prefered even more writing on the Indians themselves,that is my personal viewpoint, others may find that intruiging.The book is full of facts and personal experiences and that in itself adds to the validity of this book as musthave for your collection

While George Catlin is passionate of his desire to chronicle the North American indians and thier traditions, he falls short in the area of the east coast tribes and nations. The Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, and Six Nations (Iroquois,Mohawk,Algonquin,Oneida,Seneca, and Tuskaroras ) all were an integral part of American history, They are observed on a minimal note. Comparatively, the Mmandans,and Sioux were beautifully chronicled with respect to the traditions and fears of the white man that were held among many Indian nations of the period. The detailed description of the rituals that a boy must endure to become a man, make one realize how trivial our day-to-day challenges really are. You cannot read this book and not gain a renewed respect of the American indian, and all they endured to please the White man,and avoid bloodshed in the name of peace,as they believed the great spirit wanted.