|
Catlin George Catlin and
his Indian Gallery Museum of the American
West |
|
The Smithsonian’s scurrilous commentary
does not bear repeating. William Fisk’s portrait shows the man all eye
and hand. Catlin is supreme in the Anglo-American portrait tradition. His
subjects are Indians. Baudelaire saw his Petit Loup in 1846, wondered
why Catlin was called incompetent, saw a masterpiece.
His landscapes are of another order than
we are accustomed to, as Baudelaire explains. No eye so quick without a
camera saw the Great Plains. Stand back a few feet, so you can see
them. |
