
Read the visual description
The image shows a Native American camp from an elevated viewpoint. The scene includes tipis with symbols and people engaged in various activities. The setting features distant hills under a cloudy sky, with soft transitions between land and sky. The brushstrokes are delicate and precise, creating a realistic landscape. The color palette is dominated by earthy tones, with greens for hills and browns for tipis and earth, while the sky is a blend of grays and blues. Figures on horseback in the distance add movement to the scene. The painting is bordered by an oval frame.
National Gallery of Art · Painting
An Ojibbeway Village of Skin Tents
George Catlin
- Date
- 1861/1869
- Medium
- oil on card mounted on paperboard
- Dimensions
- overall: 47.5 x 63.9 cm (18 11/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 1965.16.128
- Credit line
- Paul Mellon Collection
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CAB
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- American
- Village
- American Paintings, Catlin
- North American Indian
- architecture
- Ojibbeway
- Tents
Provenance
George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.
NGA object ID 50436. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.