Three Distinguished Warriors of the Sioux Tribe 1861

George Catlin made this painting of "Three Distinguished Warriors of the Sioux Tribe" with oil on canvas. Catlin made hundreds of paintings of Native Americans in the 1830s, as the US government was implementing a policy of Indian Removal. His self-appointed task was to record what he believed to be a vanishing race. But his work also functioned as a critique of government policy. He often framed Native Americans as noble people destroyed by colonisation. Notice that these men are identified as distinguished warriors. Catlin here uses a visual code in which Indigenous peoples are presented as powerful figures with their own customs, beliefs, and social structures. We know about Catlin's travels from his books and letters, resources that contextualise these images. This painting reminds us that the interpretation of art is contingent on social and institutional context.