George Catlin

This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, showcases works from Catlin's 'Indian Gallery' - a series of portraits not seen in the UK since the 1840s - and seeks to reposition this remarkable artist for a contemporary audience. The authors explore the origins of Catlin's achievement: his ambition to record what he believed to be dying cultures, and his collecting activities, educational intentions and methods of exhibition and display, which demonstrate the growth of a new sensibility towards native peoples. While Catlin's work is well known in the USA, especially in Washington DC, where most of it is still housed in the Smithsonian Institution, George Catlin's Indian Gallery will help to bring these spectacular pictures to new audiences in Britain and around the world. Exhibition: National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (4.3.-23.6.2013).