Three Young Chinook Men 1855 - 1869

George Catlin painted "Three Young Chinook Men" in watercolor, likely during the 1830s, reflecting his travels in the American West. This image tells us about Catlin's project to document Native American life. Note the ways the men are carefully posed, almost staged, with their distinctive head flattening. Catlin aimed to capture what he saw as authentic Native American culture, yet his work was inevitably shaped by the conventions of European portraiture and his own cultural biases. The painting provides a window into the power dynamics of the period, when the US government was actively dispossessing Native Americans of their land. Catlin’s work romanticized Native American life, but also contributed to the idea that it was a disappearing culture. Understanding the full context of this image requires research into the history of the Chinook people, the biography of Catlin, and the role of institutions like the Smithsonian, which collected and displayed these images. Ultimately, this artwork’s meaning is contingent on its complex social and institutional history.