George Catlin, Beautiful Clay Bluffs, 1900 Miles above St. Louis, 1832, oil on canvas, 11 1⁄4 x 14 3⁄8 in. (28.5 x 36.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.382
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Beautiful Clay Bluffs, 1900 Miles above St. Louis
- Artist
- Date
- 1832
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 11 1⁄4 x 14 3⁄8 in. (28.5 x 36.6 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Landscape — United States
- Landscape — plain
- Western
- Object Number
- 1985.66.382
Artwork Description
“These curious bluffs must be seen as they are in nature; or else in a painting, where their colours are faithfully given, or they lose their picturesque beauty, which consists in the variety of their vivid tints. The strata of clay are alternating from red to yellow---white---brown and dark blue; and so curiously arranged, as to form the most pleasing and singular effects.” George Catlin painted this scene during a voyage along the Missouri River in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 10, 1841; reprint 1973)
