American Art Collaborative

George Catlin described his images of Ben and Sam Perryman (see 1985.66.289) as “portraits of two distinguished men, and I believe, both chiefs . . . These two men are brothers, and are fair specimens of the tribe [Creek/Muskogee], who are mostly clad in calicoes, and other cloths of civilized manufacture; tasselled and fringed off by themselves in the most fantastic way, and sometimes with much true and picturesque taste.” Catlin painted this work at Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory, in 1834. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 49, 1841; reprint 1973