Caitlin Holm

George Catlin and Bill Holm are both known as some of the finest painters of Native American life. In his life time, Catlin created more than five hundred paintings and collected an impressive number of Indian artifacts, and after returning to the East he began exhibiting his work in influential cities. As an artist, Holm’s diverse works range from carving and painting to beading and quillwork, always specializing in the visual art of Northwest Coast Native Americans. This led him to take on the role of practitioner and teacher of the Northwest Coast art style. Both these artists have found a fervent fascination with the varying aspects of these ingenuous people, and have sought to express this in their art; however, a great difference is seen in how both artists choose to express and interpret American Indians in their works. While one traveled west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s to record images of America's native people and sought to change American attitudes toward the dispossession and disempowerment of America's indigenous peoples, the other focused on the portrayal of Native American life through the historically accurate recreation of traditional dress, ornaments, and artifacts. Both artists have developed styles that beautifully portray and express different aspects of Natives lives that, while contrast in many ways, are both spectacular and though provoking
George Catlin’s first painting mentioned, Ball- Play of the Choctaw, was a gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr and is currently in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Catlin created this specific piece of artwork as oil on canvas. George Catlin made many different trips up the Missouri to live with the Plains Indians in the 1830s before expansion of the US over Indian Territory. It was during this time that he painted Ball-play of Choctaw, which was created after Catlin witnessed the Choctaw tribe playing lacrosse. This game, often called “little brother of war,” was very aggressive and, at times, violent as the natives fought each other for the ball. In this painting, Catlin expresses a feeling of frenzy and aggression as the players fight each other while the onlookers stand in groups apart from the game. This painting also shows Catlin's love for nature, as an equal amount of emphasis is placed on the beauty of the Indian Territory as is on the Natives themselves. He paints the background in almost transparent veils of color on which the figures of Indians appear small, making the painting more abstract. Bill Holm also depicts Native American life in A Good Trade. In this painting, Holm beautifully depicts a scene that involves the trading feature of Native American life. While the Nez Perce and Mt. Crow tribes trade their buffalo robes for horses and roots in baskets, children play in the background, men are outfitted on their horses, and the main figures of the painting, two women, are focused on their tasks. This is all done with an acute historical precision. Holm places a great amount of emphasis on being accurate, as seen in each figure being outfitted in the traditional types of blankets, head gear, and clothes, as well as the doll the two little girls are playing with. While both Catlin and Holm’s paintings skillfully illustrate the day to day tasks of Native Americans, they are done with vastly different viewpoints. Catlin shows a strong determination to highlight and capture the customs and the day to day lives of Native Americans, not just the likenesses of the indigenous people. He, unlike Holm, does this with an exceedingly realistic viewpoint and emphasis on nature, rather than solely on the Native Americans themselves. Holm, however, focuses on portraying an accurate portrayal of an average day a Native American would experience by emphasizing the details of the painting. He spent a great deal of time accurately portraying each figure with a sense of fantasy and color; each person is in great detail, contrary to Catlin’ slim and unrecognizable characters. Catlin and Holm also excelled in portraits of Native Americans. Catlin’s famous Stu-mick-o-sucks, Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe, is a wonderful portrayal of how he viewed and expressed Natives in his art. It is currently in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and was made as oil on a canvas. Here Catlin portrays the chief of Blackfoot, a tribe that lived along the border of present day Canada and United States. Catlin saw those tribes who dwelled in the northern plains to be least tarnished by white contact and thereby desired to help them create an image of nobility. Catlin painted this chief with a commanding air, and is adorned in simple but noble Native American garb and face paint. Catlin paints no background other than the sky, which is contrasted with the dominant outlines of Chief’s face and hair, all accentuated by strong, deep colors and paired with feathered ornaments.
Holm also delved into the making of portraits, one of his most prominent being Blue Beaded Guncase. In this full body portrait of a Blackfoot warrior, Holm places emphasis on the cased gun and tripod with medicine bundles held by the native, who is outfitted with beautifully portrayed and detail oriented traditional warrior clothing and accessories. The background is a simple backdrop that does not take away from the wonderfully detailed clothes, gun case, and tripod. In this portrait, Holm places more importance on the warrior’s artifacts rather than on the actual Native American himself. The major difference between Holm’s and Catlin’s portraits is where the emphasis is placed. As stated before, Holm gives great significance to the warrior’s relics.. All pieces of Holms painting serve as a supporting backdrop to the traditional artifacts; for example, rather than being posed straight forward, the warrior is angled, allowing the gun case and tripod to be seen as the center of the portrait. Catlin, however, places all emphasis on his figure, the chief, whose face takes up the majority of the space, only give a small glimpse of the sky that beautifully corresponds to the mood set by the chief.
These paintings show how George Catlin and Bill Holms used their talents as a way of expressing their views on Native Americans and how they are portrayed in art. Catlin was a strong supporter of native rights, an admirable sentiment for his time period, and sought to convey this in his artwork through his rustic, realistic images. Holms sought to revive Native American art by breathing life into traditional Native American artifacts and clothes, accomplishing this through a more colorful and traditional way than Catlin. However, no matter the differences, both artists created pieces that masterfully expressed Native American life in art.