Nine Ojibbeway Indians in London

Executed in oil on a relatively small card support, the work reflects the straightforward, unembellished approach typical of American folk art. Catlin eschews the refined chiaroscuro of academic painting, favoring flat areas of colour and clear outlines that emphasize the subjects’ clothing and accessories rather than atmospheric depth.

George Catlin, originally trained as a lawyer, turned to painting in the 1830s and spent years traveling across the western United States to sketch Native peoples. This later piece continues his lifelong project of recording Indigenous groups, extending his fieldwork to a European setting after his own travels brought him to London.

The painting belongs to a broader body of work in which Catlin sought to preserve what he considered vanishing cultures. While many of his earlier pieces were drawn from direct observation on the frontier, this work illustrates the transatlantic interest in Native American peoples during the mid‑nineteenth century.