The Bear Dance
The Bear Dance
Artist
George Catlin
(1796 - 1872)
Date1844
MediumHand-colored lithograph mounted on cardboard
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.96.18
Accession number
2010.96.18
On View
Not on viewLabel TextCatlin first sketched this scene near Fort Pierre, North Dakota, in 1832. Although he depicted the Sioux dancers in a more generic way than he did many of his other Indian subjects, the image is nevertheless filled with animated detail, such as emotive facial expressions and naturalistic imitations of the bears' movements. Participants in the ritual sing a song to "the Bear Spirit," which, according to Catlin, had to be "consulted and conciliated" before the annual hunt.
