View George Catlin’s Indian Gallery and the Edward Curtis Collection with 50 Native American leaders and writers from the 1800s through an interactive gallery walk that builds on students’ interests.

This interactive gallery walk can be used by individuals or projected for small-group instruction. For a larger, more responsive, format paste this url in your browser http://bit.ly/McQStudios68

Background: I had just finished the George Bellows’ Stag at Sharkey’s interactive module and was casting about for another work to prove the merits of this instructional concept. COVID-19 was just taking root and I wanted something that showed how art from the past could respond to contemporary issues. I took Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware out for a spin. And while it depicted E pluribus unum at its best, it didn’t maintain emotional traction in this time of partisan divide. As my eyes passed over George Catlin’s Indian Gallery I immediately thought, now these people knew pandemics. The role commercial interests and government mismanagement played in spreading smallpox had chilling parallels. I started to organize the module. Then the social protests erupted around the killing of George Floyd. As the news chronicled cruel authorities abusing their positions of power and systemic racism, the Gallery’s stoic portraits stared back at me. Imploring? Implicating? Catlin’s distinct grid presentation offered its own march of anguish and resistance. Then confederate statues began to topple. With this cosmic hectoring, I redoubled my efforts to identify artists’ unstated intentions and implicit bias and to show how added perspectives can reframe history and a work of art. This still has room for improvement, and hopefully it always will, but it’s heading in the right direction. We can advance it together. In the space provided below tell me what you like, what you want, and what could be done better.

What this Look and Learn module offers

• Tour George Catlin’s Indian Gallery and the Edward Curtis Collection.
• 50 Native Americans writers and leaders from the time period respond to themes and the people depicted in these galleries.
• 10 autobiographies let readers view the 1800s through the eyes of Native Americans who lived them.
• Consider the ethnographic significance and implicit bias in paintings and photographs.
• Cultivate visual literacy skills and strategies for unpacking a work of art.

• Hundreds of embedded links provide access to:
  • Historic books by Native American authors (free and downloadable)
  • Congressional reports, speeches, and newspaper accounts that chronicle United States Indian Policy
  • Museums and libraries including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Library of Congress

• Learn from (in order of appearance): Pa-la-ne-npo-pe (The Man that was Struck by the Ree), Wasuhiya-ye-dom (Chief Passing-Hail), Medicine Cow, Múk-a-tah-mish-o-káh-kaik, (Black Hawk), Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman), Náh-se-ús-kuk (Whirling Thunder), Two Leggings, Wah-pe-kée-suck, White Cloud, Pash-ee-pa-hó (the Little Stabbing Chief), Chief Luther Standing Bear, Thomas H. Leforge, Jee-he-o-ho-shah (He who cannot be Thrown Down), Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin), Wah-ro-née-sah (the Surrounder), Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (George Copway), Kah-béck-a (the Twin), Stu-mick-o-súcks (the Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat), Chief Little Hill, Eeh-nís-kim (the Crystal Stone), Tcha-aés-ka-ding, M’o-sho-la-tub-bee (He who puts out and Kills), Os-ce-o-lá (the Black Drink), Máh-to-tóh-pa (the Four Bears), Susan La Flesche, Geronimo, Tsee-moúnt (Great Wonder), Thocmectony (Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins), Tul-lock-chísh-ko (He who Drinks the Juice of the Stone), Chief Joseph, Alexander Upshaw, American Horse, Maschidit-kudush (White Man Who Runs Him), Chief Two Moons, Chief Runs the Enemy, Sitting Bull, Mahiplya-luta (Red Cloud), Old-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horse, Crazy Horse, Chief Black Kettle, Chief White Antelope, Bull Bear, Good Bear, Chief Little Thunder, Tamahay, Ridge Bear, Bamewawagezhikaquay (Jane Johnston Schoolcraft)

Teaching strategies

Let students roam this resource as they would museum galleries. Encourage them to follow their interests and take a closer look at things that catch their eye. The following strategies can provide some structure to the experience.

Follow Your Interests 3, 2, 1: Have students discuss 3 images from the galleries that interested them enough to read its supporting texts. Describe 2 things they learned in reading those texts. Identify 1 thing that they want to learn more about. Consider using the provided links to answer that question.

Ekphrastic Poem with Found Text: Ella Higginson’s The Vanishing Race (C.M. Sherman, 1911), is an ekphrastic poem inspired by Curtis’s photograph by the same name. Have students write an ekphrastic poem about their favorite image from either of the galleries. For added interest have students rearrange and harvest the “found text” in each image’s Another Perspective feature. Here is an example of how found text (slave narratives) were used to write ekphrastic poems about a work of art (J.M.W. Turner’s The Slave Ship) to explore and expose an historical injustice (the Middle Passage).

“Note This Detail” 6-Pack: Pick your favorite six Note This Detail features to help you guide art analysis discussions. Use the embedded links to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Library of Congress to project the image as large as possible. And then talk art.

Research with the Question Formulation Technique: After art analysis and discussion you may have anchor charts full of observations and wonderings. The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) can help turn these into inquiry-based research questions that build on student insights and interests. This model may help.

Supporting Resources

Native American Portrait Sort: Building on the the artworks introduced in this gallery walk, this sorting game explores the works of five artists who photographed Native Americans between 1900 and 1910. The five photographers are Edward Curtis, Richard Throssel, Gertrude Käsebier, Benjamin Haldane and Jennie Ross Cobb. Comparing their works reveals how a photographer’s worldview is expressed in their portraits.

Expand the conversation with more informed perspectives

In addition to class discussions and inquiry studies, these galleries also lend themselves to scavenger hunts and other instructional games. Please share your teaching ideas in the space provided below so everyone can benefit from them. Please also share other Native American writers from the 1800s whose work would add perspective to these galleries.  

The galleries in this interactive module are greatly enhanced by the thoughts and writings of Native Americans from the 1800s. They can be further enhanced with the insights of contemporary Native American artists. Here are some options to consider.

Project 562: Matika Wilbur’s Project 562 extends Catlin’s and Curtis’s artistic tradition into the 21^st century with some meaningful adaptations. Like Catlin and Curtis before her, Wilbur hopes to visit and depict tribes across the continent in order to raise awareness about contemporary Native American issues and to create a visual record of a proud and noble people. But, Wilbur, a photographer and storyteller of the Tulalip and Swinomish tribes, also intends to uproot some of the one-dimensional stereotypes Catlin’s and Curtis’s art perpetuates and model a more equitable and inclusive process for helping Native Americans tell their own stories.

Comparing and contrasting the Project 562 gallery with Catlin’s Indian Gallery is rich with opportunities for teachable discussions. The Project 562 gallery is not a record of a doomed people. Instead, students will see examples of vibrant, enduring traditions and individuals empowered by their cultural heritage. They will meet activists who live Native American values and fight for Native American rights, while also being proud contributing citizens of the United States. Yes, the portraits let you look into the eyes of people with stoic resolve, but you will also see their joy, their humor, their compassion, and their smiles. Encourage students to consider, not only Wilbur’s process and product, but how she shares her work with the public. This will help students better understand both her work and Catlin’s.

Contemporary Native American artists: These artists challenge common Native American stereotypes and provide insight into contemporary Native American beliefs and concerns. Consider having students present the work of individual artists in a way that explores their unique perspectives and shared interests.

1491s • Jim Denomie • Andy Everson • Jeffrey Gibson • Teri Greeves • Frank Buffalo Hyde • Zig Jackson • Brad Kahlhamer • Nadya Kwandibens • Meryl McMaster • Marianne Nicolson • Wendy Red Star • Josue Rivas • Cara Romero • Richard Ray Whitman • Matika Wilbur • Will Wilson

Galleries of contemporary art that explore Native American identity could enhance this instructional module. Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating on such a gallery.