War Dance of the Apachees 1855 - 1869

Curator: Standing before us is George Catlin's "War Dance of the Apachees," likely created sometime between 1855 and 1869. Look at the scene Catlin captures, a dynamic panorama using watercolor to unfold this narrative moment. Editor: Wow. It's… intensely busy. My immediate feeling is almost claustrophobic, even though it depicts this wide-open landscape. All those figures! It feels less like a snapshot and more like an epic stage production squeezed onto paper. Curator: Indeed. Catlin was determined to document Native American life, traveling extensively across the American West. However, we need to examine that mission critically. He was creating images during a time of immense pressure and upheaval for Native American communities due to government policies and expansion. How do you feel that knowledge impacts your reading of this image? Editor: It darkens it considerably. Suddenly, it's not just a record, it’s a… representation of power, really. Whose gaze is directing this portrayal? The composition feels almost… performative? Like this "war dance" is being staged for a white audience. The scale is strange too; these tiny figures become somewhat abstracted, distancing us from individual stories and lived experiences. Curator: Precisely. There is a degree of romanticization. Notice the idealized setting: rolling plains meeting what looks like the Missouri River. These romantic notions, while intending to be documentary, ended up reinforcing certain stereotypical narratives about Native Americans being a disappearing culture. Editor: It’s heartbreaking. It makes you wonder about all the silences in this image, all the stories Catlin, perhaps unknowingly, chose not to see, the way a picture often obscures what's really going on, instead of helping make things clear. Still, this almost manic accumulation of bodies in the center contrasts really intriguingly with that almost haunting calm of the light reflecting off the lake and distant skyline... a silent promise? Or the soundless threat that hangs in the distance...? Curator: It invites us, in a way, to meditate on what art as witness truly means, and the ethics of looking. Thank you. Editor: It's been intense; this seemingly 'documentary' work brings up difficult feelings, but this journey in front of the painting was very valuable. Thank you.