'Native Americans, Native Europeans - and the lost Welsh Indians'
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In 1831, George Catlin turned his back on his career as a lawyer in
Philadelphia and on his second career as a portrait painter in order to
record as much as he could of the cultures of the Native Americans. For
several years he traveled across North America, from Florida to Montana and
from Texas to South Carolina. Wherever he went he painted, recording the
places and the people he encountered, and his paintings open a window on a
world which has largely disappeared. He later published his comments on his
travels, and his “Letters and
Notes on the Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians
Written During Eight Years’ Travel (1832-1839) Amongst the Wildest
Tribes of Indians of North America” give a vivid and often
startling picture of the world of the Native Americans, and, by contrast, of
his own world. As Catlin pointed out, it is by
studying other cultures that we understand our own, and it was by looking at
Native American cultures that Catlin reveals the
culture of both the United States and of much of Europe at that time. Some years later Catlin assembled his “Indian Gallery”, an
enormous collection of his own paintings and numerous Native American artifacts.
He exhibited his collection to great acclaim both in North America and in
Europe. In London he collaborated with various groups of Native Americans who
had come to Europe to raise money for their tribes, and his careful and
faithful descriptions of the reactions of the North Americans to the culture
they found in London and Paris offer a fascinating picture of profoundly
contrasting social, moral and religious worlds. Finally, during his travels
in North America, Catlin became interested in one
of the great quests of his day: the search for the tribe of Welsh Indians
reputed to live somewhere on the plains. Thomas Jefferson had given Lewis and
Clark clear instructions to look out for the Welsh Indians as they traveled across
the country. At that time, North America was awash with rumours
and reports of blue-eyed, fair-skinned, fair-headed, Welsh speaking Indians,
the remnants, so it was believed, of Prince Madoc’s
followers who left Wales in 1169 and 1170 to find peace and harmony in the
paradise of the West. When both 'A House of Leaves' and 'Native Americans and Native Europeans' are touring together, the presentation will be given by Mansel David. When 'A House of Leaves' is not touring, an unstaged version of the presentation will be given by David Rowe. |
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