Ball-play of the Choctaw--ball up

About this artwork

“The game commenced, by the judges throwing up the ball at the firing of a gun; when an instant struggle ensued between the players, who were some six or seven hundred in numbers, and were mutually endeavouring to catch the ball in their sticks, and throw it home and between their respective stakes; which, whenever successfully done, counts one for game. In this game every player was dressed alike, that is, divested of all dress, except the girdle and the tail, which I have before described; and...

Art Historical Context

George Catlin's *Ball-play of the Choctaw--ball up* (1834-1835) vividly captures the chaotic energy of a traditional Choctaw ball game, a precursor to modern lacrosse, sketched near Fort Gibson in present-day Oklahoma. In this oil painting, hundreds of players—stripped down to just girdles and feathered tails—scramble fiercely after a ball tossed into the air by judges at the sound of a gun. Catlin's dynamic composition freezes the "ball up," with players leaping over heads, darting between legs, tripping, and yelping in a whirlwind of athleticism and strategy, all aimed at hurling the ball between rival stakes to score. As a pioneering artist of Native American life, Catlin (1796-1873) traveled the frontier to document vanishing cultures through realistic, Romantic-style paintings before European influence altered them forever. This work, part of his ambitious "Indian Gallery," draws from his eyewitness account in *Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians* (1841), preserving the Choctaw's communal rituals and physical prowess. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the painting offers a rare glimpse into 19th-century Indigenous sports, highlighting themes of competition, endurance, and cultural identity amid rapid Western expansion. It's a testament to Catlin's role in early ethnographic art, blending observation with dramatic flair to engage and educate.

About the Artist

George Catlin · 1796–1872

George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...