George Catlin, Batiste, Bogard, and I Approaching Buffalo on the Missouri, 1837-1839, oil on canvas, 19 5⁄8 x 27 1⁄2 in. (49.7 x 70.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.473
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Batiste, Bogard, and I Approaching Buffalo on the Missouri
- Artist
- Date
- 1837-1839
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 19 5⁄8 x 27 1⁄2 in. (49.7 x 70.0 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Portrait male — Catlin, George — self-portrait
- Animal — buffalo
- Recreation — sport and play — hunting
- Western
- Figure group — male
- Landscape — river — Missouri River
- Object Number
- 1985.66.473
Artwork Description
“We met immense numbers of buffaloes in the early part of our voyage and used to land our canoe almost every hour in the day; and oftentimes all together approach the unsuspecting herds, through some deep and hidden ravine within a few rods of them, and at the word, ‘pull trigger,’ each of us bring down our victim.” George Catlin first sketched this scene on the Upper Missouri in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 32, 1841; reprint 1973)
