George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA - Attacking the Grizzly Bear-no. 19 - unknown - T-Shirt

George Catlin's hand-coloured lithograph freezes a charge in which mounted riders press a grizzly bear across a rocky slope.

Visual Elements & Composition

The scene runs as a wide horizontal panel. Mounted riders fill the foreground, one raising a tomahawk and another levelling a lance, while a distant rider holds the far edge of the action. The grizzlies sit low and dark against the ground, so the eye lands on their brown bodies first. Sky tan dominates the upper field, grass green anchors the lower ground, and pale rock forms the slope that pushes the composition toward the riders. Paper cream shows through as the lightest tone, giving the whole print a warm, aged cast. The title, ATTACKING THE GRIZZLY BEAR, is set in capitals across the image.

Meaning & Symbolism

The grizzly stands for the most formidable animal of the American West, and the confrontation tests the courage and skill of everyone who meets it. Catlin made the image as part of his American Indian Gallery, a body of work recording the Indigenous life and western landscapes he witnessed in the 1830s and 1840s. The piece belongs to his effort to document traditions and environments he believed were disappearing. Catlin's firsthand travels give it documentary weight, though the drama of the staging is an artist's romanticized view of a dangerous frontier.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A horizontal scene reads across the chest, so the riders and bears sit at a comfortable eye level when the tee is worn. The composition has a clear foreground and a receding background, which keeps the charge legible up close. Catlin's pale paper tones and earthy greens will sit against the shirt the way they sit on the original sheet, with the title running as a clear caption to the action.