Five paintings by American artist George Catlin, based on the artist's 1832 visit to Fort Union near present-day Williston, will travel from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington to the North Dakota Heritage Center for an exhibition this fall.

The exhibit's title is "This Grand Scene … North Dakota from the Palette and Pen of George Catlin." The signature image for the exhibit will be "Big Bend of the Upper Missouri, 1900 Miles Above St. Louis" - a painting that captures a scene near New Town.

"He was the camera before photography," said Claudia Berg, director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota's Museum and Education Division.

The exhibit will open to the public Oct. 23 during the Circle of Cultures, a national Lewis and Clark bicentennial signature event in Bismarck-Mandan. A concurrent exhibit, "Interpretations of Lewis and Clark in North Dakota," will feature 16 artworks by Bismarck artist Vern Erickson.

The four other Catlin pieces from the Smithsonian include "Seehkj-hee-da, Mouse-colored Feather, a Noted Brave," "Three Domes, Clay Bluffs 15 Miles Above the Mandan Village," "Wounded Buffalo, Strewing His Blood over the Prairies," and "Horseracing on a Course Behind the Mandan Village."

The SHSND, sponsoring agency along with the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, will add an original Catlin work from its permanent collection to the show. It's titled "Catlin Dining with Mah-to-toh-pa, Mandan Chief, July 1832."

Fleshing out the exhibit are artifacts from the SHSND collection and 23 Catlin prints, on loan from the Holland and Hart law firm in Denver.

"This is the perfect time and the perfect place for a Catlin exhibit," said Michael McCormack, professor of history at Bismarck State College. Catlin presented a 19th century noble-savage view of the American Indian, he said.

And, McCormack said, Catlin captured the people and landscape much as it was here when the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived in 1804. That fits right in with the themes of the Circle of Cultures, he said.

Catlin arrived at Fort Union on June 6, 1832, aboard the Yellowstone, one of the first steamers to power its way up the Missouri River to that point. He was a 36-year-old, self-taught artist who became obsessed with capturing the face of the American Indian. Catlin was prolific. During his three-month 1832 trip, he produced 135 pieces.

The works by Catlin became known as his "Indian Gallery," and it's considered a national treasure.

Catlin remains important because he was one of the earliest artists to come into what is now North Dakota and document the landscape and lives of the people in the region, Berg said.

The Erickson pieces that also will be on display represent scenes from the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They were created over about a three-year period. Erickson executed these paintings in oils, ink, washes and gouache.

Erickson has spent a lifetime creating images from American history, primarily from the American West, and most recently, the Lewis and Clark era. A history painter, Erickson said research represents 70 percent of the work, putting the image together another 20 percent, and the remaining 10 percent goes into the actual painting.

Erickson's work will be on display from the October opening through March.

(Reach Ken Rogers at 250-8250 or krogers@bismarcktribune.net)