Today’s artist in subject came to our town in the earliest years and his work became so famous it's not in the Smithsonian. And that person is George Catlin.
George Catlin was an American adventurer, traveler, lawyer, author, and painter.
His collection of works is the largest pre-photographic material of North Americans. All though he wasn’t the first to document Indigenous groups in Canada and the States he was the first to paint them as they were in their land.
He painted a handful of paintings in and around the Sault that we used now to visually understand the placement of important buildings and establishments, as well as the culture and individuals of the indigenous community.
Please note that I directly quote Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 54, by Catlin in 1841, and the language used is not conteporary.
