Two Comanche Girls

George Catlin, Two Comanche Girls, 1834, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.53-54
Copied George Catlin, Two Comanche Girls, 1834, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.53-54
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Two Comanche Girls
Artist
Date
1834
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Children
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — teepee
  • Indian — Comanche
Object Number
1985.66.53-54
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.53-54

Artwork Description

The scene, painted by George Catlin at a Comanche village in 1834, shows “the wigwam of the Chief, his dogs, and his five children.” The artist also described the village as “six or eight hundred skin-covered lodges, made of poles and buffalo skins, in the manner precisely as those of the Sioux and other Missouri tribes . . . This village with its thousands of wild inmates, with horses and dogs, and wild sports and domestic occupations, presents a most curious scene; and the manners and looks of the people, a rich subject for the brush and the pen.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 42, 1841, reprint 1973, and 1848 Catalogue, Catlin’s Indian Gallery, SAAM online exhibition)