Attacking the Grizzly Bear, plate 19 from the "North American Indian Portfolio"

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Artist/Maker George Catlin (American, 1796 – 1872)

Publisher James Ackerman (American)

Date1845

MediumColor lithograph on paper

DimensionsComposition: 13 13/16 × 18 1/4 in. (35.1 × 46.3 cm) Sheet: 15 9/16 × 22 1/8 in. (39.6 × 56.2 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Samuel Hopkins Adams, Class of 1891

Object number1959.122

Not on view

DescriptionThe preliminaries of the hunt for the Grizzly Bear having been settled in the manner described in the preceding plate, and the traces of the animal having been followed up by the party until they are in sight of the game, they are at once in action, as in the present illustration, without the trouble and fatigue of a long and desperate race, from the necessity of which they are exempted by the habits of the animals, themselves always on their hunts, and so indiscriminate as to the kind of game that may fall in their way, that they are ready to pounce upon Man as well as Beast, and are sure to meet him half way. From the entirely intractable and ferocious nature of this animal, which has defeated every effort to tame or domesticate it; and from its enormous strength, and the length and sharpness of its claws, which are used like those of the tiger, to seize and to tear its prey, it is more feared than any other animal of the American prairies; and hunters, red or white, generally evade a scufile with it, except when, as in the present instance, there are a number present, mounted and armed with the lance. The Grizzly Bear is often killed weighing nearly a thousand pounds; and from the great difficulty of penetrating its vital parts with the arrow, the lance is generally used, as in the present instance; and instead of running by its side, as in the case of the buffalo, the hunter is met, and that in an awkward position for giving the fatal blow with the lance, unless by stratagem, which is generally resorted to; exciting the animal to make its rush upon one horse, when the nearest horseman dashes by it, and driving his lance into its side, invites the animal's fury upon himself; and as it turns its exposed side, receives another and another blow, until by a succession of these stratagems and deadly thrusts, with all its huge strength and tenacity of life, it falls, though a dear-bought victim to its pursuers, as in the present illustration. This ferocious animal may be justly said to be omnivorous; yet in those vast regions where the buffaloes graze, it lives chiefly on their carcases, often springing upon them in narrow defiles, or from the banks of ravines through which they are passing to obtain water; and whenever it is enabled thus to fasten its claws upon them, is sure to bring them to the ground. In their contentions with Man or Beast they seem to be governed by no diseretion, but urged on solely by an indomitable voracity, which sets them at once to devouring their enemy when a partial advantage is gained, by which indiscretion they often easily fall by the hands of enemies to whom their terrible strength might have given far more desperate and disastrous battle.

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American Art

Additional Details

Alternate Titles North American Indian Portfolio
ATTACK OF THE GRIZZLY BEAR.

Provenance 1959: Hamilton College, by bequest of Samuel Hopkins Adams.

Inscribed "Catlin. del." at lower left in typeset; "No.19./ ATTACKING THE GRIZZLY BEAR./ Published at James Ackerman's Lithographic Rooms, 304 Broadway, N.Y." at lower center in typeset; "ASXSS" on verso at left center in pencil; "HC 117" on verso at lower left in pencil.