George Catlin Lithograph Ball-Play of the Choctaw 1844

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Fine Ancient | Asian | Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Mar 21, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-03-21 10:00:00 2019-03-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Ancient | Asian | Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-ancient-asian-ethnographic-art-3967
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• Lot Description
  George Catlin (American, 1796-1872), "Ball Play of the Choctaw, Ball Up", London: Day and Hague, 1844. Lithographs drawn by McGahey and printed by Day & Hague. An original hand-colored lithograph from a deluxe limited edition of Catlin's "North American Indian Portfolio:Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America," among the most significant accounts of Native American life, printed by Day & Haghe, set in a custom frame under glass. Catlin's oeuvre stems from a lifelong fascination with Native Americans and a desire to preserve, in his words, "the looks and customs of the vanishing races of native man in America" with his art. This passion took root when Catlin was just a nine-year-old boy; exploring the woods of southcentral New York along the Susquehanna River in 1805, he came upon an Oneida Indian who greeted him in a warm, kind-hearted manner. This memory purportedly stayed with the artist throughout his career. Size: 16.5" W x 11.75" H (41.9 cm x 29.8 cm); 28.5" W x 23.75" H (72.4 cm x 60.3 cm) with mat and frame
  
  Native Americans created the game of Lacrosse, though their version of the game was considerably different than the one played today. Oftentimes violent, it had very few rules, and was actually called "little brother of war" in Choctaw. The sport tested endurance, agility, strength, and skill. This image portrays hundreds of Choctaw men and boys playing a game similar to lacrosse near Fort Gibson, Oklahoma - their agility, skill, strength, and endurance on display. This lithograph depicts six or seven hundred Choctaw Mississippi players engaged in the Native American sport called Tolih - a form of stickball or lacrosse - and is considered to be one of the oldest team sports in North America. Usually there were five or six times that number of spectators and at times over a thousand players. This game was not only played for recreation but also involved rigorous religious ritual ceremony and for centuries, tribes from different areas played to settle their disputes without weapons, hence the game's nickname, Little Brother of War. The games were also meant to toughen up young warriors for combat and could be very brutal. Betting on the outcome was very popular.
  
  Catlin's oil on canvas of this composition hangs in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. The Luce Center Label reads as follows, "In 1834, George Catlin witnessed Choctaw lacrosse in Indian Territory near present-day Oklahoma, and was captivated by the game. He described ball-play as 'a school for the painter or sculptor, equal to any of those which ever inspired the hand of the artist in the Olympian games or the Roman forum.' Lacrosse, which involved a no-holds-barred struggle for the ball, was a physical, even violent, game called 'little brother of war' in Choctaw."
  
  Despite the fact that Catlin had no formal training as an artist, he did have an undeniable raw talent for drawing. Although his father encouraged Catlin to study law instead of art, the legal trials were far less interesting to Catlin that the imagery before him. Catlin found himself sketching judges, offenders, and jury members, and within a few years time, he decided to sell his law books and move to Philadelphia to pursue art. Lacking direction, he painted portraits but was dissatisfied with these subjects until, in approximately 1828, a delegation of Native Americans stopped in Philadelphia en route to Washington, D.C. and Catlin was reportedly drawn to what he described as "their classic beauty." Seduced by the romance of the "disappearing races", Catlin recognized that smallpox and whiskey were decimating the indigenous peoples, and vowed that "nothing short of the loss of my life, shall prevent me from visiting their country, and of becoming their historian." So in 1830, Catlin headed West where he stayed for six years (returning East most winters to his family) and painted 300 portraits and almost 175 ritual scenes and landscapes. In 1837, following his return to New York, Catlin set up an exhibition in salon style (stacked from floor to ceiling) that made quite an impression.
  
  As an artist, Catlin was both honored and criticized during his lifetime; however, the fact that he had created the largest of pre-photographic imagery depicting Native americans - a remarkable record - is undeniable. Bruce Watson, in his review of a 2002 Renwick Gallery exhibition of Catlin's work, wrote, "Though not the first artist to paint American Indians, Catlin was the first to picture them so extensively in their own territories and one of the few to portray them as fellow human beings rather than savages. His more realistic approach grew out of his appreciation for a people who, he wrote, 'had been invaded, their morals corrupted, their lands wrested from them, their customs changed, and therefore lost to the world.' Such empathy was uncommon in 1830, the year the federal Indian Removal Act forced Southeastern tribes to move to what is now Oklahoma along the disastrous 'Trail of Tears.'" (Bruce Watson, "George Catlin's Obsession," Smithsonian Magazine, December, 2002)
  
  In a famous passage from the preface of his "North American Indian Portfolio", Catlin describes how the sight of several tribal chiefs in Philadelphia inspired him to record their way of life: "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian". Understanding that the Native Americans' future was in jeopardy, Catlin he worked tirelessly, always feeling the pressure of time, to record what he saw - an artist-as-ethnographer. From 1832 to 1837 Catlin sketched the tribes during the summer months and during the winters he would paint the imagery in oils. In addition to exhibiting these, he published a selection of the finest of images from this record in the "North American Indian Portfolio" in order to expand his audience. "Buffalo Hunt" was part of this publishing venture.
  
  Provenance: private Lucille Lucas collection, Crested Butte, Colorado, USA
  
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  #134051

  Condition

  Slight wear to the frame with scuffs as shown, but otherwise very good; mat and UV protection glass are very good as well. The lithograph appears to be in generally excellent condition. It has not been examined outside the frame.
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