George Winter (artist) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids George Winter
George Winter
Born	(1810-06-10)June 10, 1810 Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Died	February 1, 1876(1876-02-01) (aged 65) Lafayette, Indiana
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting
Spouse(s)	Mary Jane Squier (1820–1899), married August 5, 1840

George Winter (June 10, 1809 – February 1, 1876) was an artist born in England. He moved to the United States in 1830 and became an American citizen. Winter lived in the Wabash River valley in northern Indiana. He was one of Indiana's first professional artists. Many people consider him the most important painter in the state during the first half of the 1800s.

Winter is famous for his sketches, watercolors, and oil portraits. These artworks show us what life was like for the Potawatomi and Miami people in northern Indiana from 1837 to the 1840s. He drew what he saw firsthand on the American frontier.

People value Winter's art more for its historical importance than for his amazing artistic skill. He wasn't very well known outside of Indiana when he was alive. But he became more famous for his painting of Frances Slocum. She was a Quaker girl who was taken from her home as a child. She grew up to marry a Miami chief in Indiana. Winter's art, including the Slocum portrait, has been shown in many books and art exhibits. You can find his artworks and notes in museums and collections in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

George Winter's Early Life and Art Training

George Winter was born on June 10, 1809, in Portsea, Portsmouth, England. He was the youngest of twelve children. His family loved art, so he grew up surrounded by it. He went to local schools and also had private art lessons. George planned to study art in London.

In 1826, Winter moved to London to live with his brother, John. For four years, he copied famous artworks from museums and galleries. He might have tried to get into the Royal Academy of Arts. However, it seems he never had formal training as a painter.

In June 1830, when he was 21, Winter moved to the United States. He showed one of his copied paintings in New York City that October. He also studied art at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Winter displayed his early paintings at the National Academy's art shows in 1832, 1834, and 1835.

In 1835, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his parents lived. Winter opened an art studio there. But it was hard to earn a living as a portrait artist. He closed his studio in 1837.

In May 1837, Winter decided to visit Logansport, Indiana. He had heard about the government looking into problems with Indian traders and the Potawatomis. The government was also trying to move the Potawatomi tribe from northern Indiana to land in the Kansas Territory. Winter wanted to watch and sketch the Potawatomis during these events. He only planned to stay a short time. But he ended up living in Logansport until 1850.

Family Life

George Winter married Mary Jane Squier on August 5, 1840. Her father owned stagecoach lines in Dayton, Ohio. Winter became a naturalized U.S. citizen in July 1841.

George and Mary Jane made their home in Logansport. Their son, George Jr., was born in 1841. Their daughter, Annette, was born in 1844. Sadly, another daughter, Agnes, passed away when she was only 17 months old in 1850.

Career as an Artist

Documenting Native American Life in Indiana

From 1837 to the late 1840s, George Winter watched the Potawatomi and Miami people in northern Indiana. He wrote detailed notes about his experiences. He moved to Logansport, Indiana, in May 1837. There, he sketched the Potawatomis living nearby and recorded their culture.

Winter observed the Potawatomis during court meetings. These meetings looked into payments the government made to the Potawatomis before they were moved west. Besides his sketches and paintings, Winter kept a journal. He wrote notes about the people he drew and other details of his meetings with Native Americans. He also painted portraits of the Potawatomis at his studio near a local trading post.

In the summer of 1837, Winter went with government officials to a meeting with the Potawatomis. This meeting was at Lake Kee-wau-nay (now Lake Bruce, Indiana). The officials hoped to convince the Potawatomis to move to Kansas Territory. Winter made over seventy sketches during this meeting. In August 1837, he visited Crooked Creek, Indiana, where a Potawatomi removal camp was located. In November 1837, he was there when the last payment was made to the Potawatomis in northern Indiana.

In 1838, Winter saw the start of the forced march of the Potawatomis to Kansas Territory. He sketched them as they passed through Logansport. This long journey later became known as the Potawatomi Trail of Death. Instead of following the Native Americans west, Winter stayed in Logansport. He painted portraits of local people. He also wrote articles for the Logansport Telegraph newspaper to earn more money.

In 1839, Winter was asked to paint a portrait of Frances Slocum. She was known as the "Lost Sister of Wyoming." Her home was near Peru, Indiana. This painting became his most valuable and famous work.

Painting Historical Events

In 1840, Winter spent a week sketching the site of the Battle of Tippecanoe. This was for William Henry Harrison's presidential campaign. Harrison became famous as a military hero at this battle in 1811. Winter hoped to make money by showing and selling six large paintings he made from his sketches. He described them as showing different views of the battleground and the "romantic country" around it. The paintings were very big, suggesting they were for public display. But Winter didn't make a profit from them. His creditors took them to cover his debts. The Indiana state government bought one painting in 1849, but it is now lost. We don't know what happened to the other five.

Winter showed two paintings at the Cincinnati Academy in 1841. He also joined the Western Art Union in 1847. However, he sold few paintings and struggled to make a living in Logansport. After some of his things were taken to pay his debts, his family lived with his wife's father for a while. Winter and his family recovered and returned to Logansport in 1845.

Moving to Lafayette and Sharing His Art

Hoping to find more people to buy his art, Winter opened a studio in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1850. His family stayed in Logansport until 1852. Then, they moved into a home on Main Street in Lafayette. Winter lived in Lafayette from 1850 until he passed away in 1876. He only left for short trips and a brief stay in California in 1875–76.

To earn more money in the early 1850s, Winter created a traveling "mixed media" show. It was called "Elydoric Paintings and Dissolving Views." It started in Lafayette in November 1851. The show traveled to other Indiana cities like Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, and Marion. It included four large paintings of European scenes. After the show ended in October 1852, he went back to painting.

From 1852 to 1858, Winter earned money by holding raffles for his paintings. Tickets usually cost $2. He held raffles in Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. Winter also visited Wisconsin in 1856 and opened a studio in Burlington, Iowa. But Lafayette, Indiana, remained the main place for selling his art. His biggest raffle was in Lafayette in 1868. His last raffle was in 1873. It's thought that over 500 of Winter's paintings were sold this way over 22 years. To create so many artworks, Winter reused old ideas, copied prints, and made new portraits and landscapes from his sketches. He also added his own creative touches to his paintings.

Later Years and Legacy

In 1874, Winter's brother, Charles, passed away in San Francisco, California. Winter traveled west to handle his brother's estate and inherited his home. George returned to Indiana in 1875. Then, he brought his wife, Mary, to Oakland, California, where they stayed for over a year. While in California, Winter joined the San Francisco Art Association. He showed ten artworks at their exhibition in 1875.

Winter and his wife came back to Lafayette on January 26, 1876. He passed away suddenly on February 1, 1876. He was at a meeting in Lafayette when it happened. After his funeral, he was buried in Greenbush Cemetery in Lafayette.

Indiana art experts see Winter as the "most important of Indiana's early painters" in the first half of the 1800s. He is also considered the state's "main landscape painter of that time." He was one of Indiana's first professional artists.

Even though Winter was famous in northern Indiana, he wasn't well known outside the state during his lifetime. By 1900, people had mostly forgotten about Winter and his art. Two of his works that had some success were Spotted Faun and The Indian Captive. Winter's most famous painting was of Frances Slocum. Winter and this painting became more noticed after a book about Frances Slocum was published in 1891.

Winter's most important artworks were largely unknown until the 1930s and 1940s. That's when his family rediscovered a huge collection of his art and notes that he had never sold. In 1986, Evelyn Osterman Ball, a descendant of Winter, gave this large collection to the Tippecanoe County Historical Association in Lafayette. This collection includes Winter's paintings and sketches. It also has many of his notes, papers, and letters. This collection is very important for history. It gives detailed descriptions of Winter's firsthand experiences with the Potawatomi and Miami tribes in northern Indiana in the mid-1800s.

Winter's sketches and paintings are the best visual record we have of the Potawatomi and Miami tribes in northern Indiana during the 1830s and 1840s. He is known for carefully documenting their daily lives from what he saw. Winter's work in documenting these people in Indiana is special. Other famous artists like George Catlin and Paul Kane drew these tribes in other parts of the country or later, after they had moved west.

Winter's oil paintings and watercolors show people like Francis Godfroy, the last war chief of the Miamis. He also painted Native American interpreter Joseph Barron, and Frances Slocum, among many others. He also recorded the daily lives of the Miami and Potawatomi people. And he documented the start of the Trail of Death, the forced move of the Potawatomis in 1839. Because of these historical records, Winter's work is an "important primary source" for learning about the Potawatomis and Miamis.

Some art critics have pointed out small flaws in Winter's paintings. For example, they mention his use of color or how he handled paint. But even with these small points, Winter's work is still very valuable for its historical information.

Winter's fame as an Indiana artist grew in the 1900s. He was included in a book called Art and Artists of Indiana (1921). Also, a book of his journals and manuscripts, The Journals and Indian Paintings of George Winter, 1837–1839 (1948), was published. This, along with art shows in Indiana, helped more people learn about his work. Some of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association's George Winter Collection is available online. You can see it through a project with Purdue University Libraries.

Selected Artworks

Portrait of Frances Slocum

Winter made many drawings of the Miamis at Deaf Man's village. But he is most famous for his portrait and notes about Frances Slocum. She was a Quaker child known as Maconaqua among the Miamis. Delaware (Lenape) warriors took Slocum from her home in Pennsylvania in 1778 when she was five years old. Slocum grew up among the Delawares and Miamis. She became the wife of Deaf Man, a Miami chief.

Slocum was afraid she would be taken from her Miami family if her past became known. But in 1839, she decided to tell her story to Colonel George W. Ewing, a local trader. Later that year, some of Slocum's siblings from Pennsylvania visited her in Indiana. Her oldest brother asked Winter to paint her portrait. He wanted to take it home to Pennsylvania to show other family members. Slocum was an elderly woman when Winter painted her in 1839. She stayed with the Miamis in Indiana until she passed away in 1847.

Oil Paintings

• Portrait of Frances Slocum, 1839, oil, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Portrait of Albert Cole, around 1840, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Portrait of Mary Galpin Cole, around 1840, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Landscape near Lafayette, 1850–1876, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Landscape with Indians, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Nocturnal Landscape, after 1850, oil on canvas mounted to Masonite, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Potawatomi Camp Scene, Crooked Creek, 1837, oil, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Scene on the Wabash (also called Indians along the Wabash), around 1848, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Scene on the Wabash (near Pipe Creek), around 1840, oil on canvas, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Spotted Faun, 1864, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Tipton Island Near Logansport, Indiana, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art

Watercolor Portraits

• Ash-Kum, Indiana Potawatomi Chief, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Ben-Ache, Indiana Potawatomi Indian, around 1860–1869, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• D-Mouche-Kee-Kee-Awh, Indiana Potawatomi Indian (Frances Slocum), around 1863–1871, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Frances Slocum and daughter, Indiana Indians, 1863–1871, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Francis Godfroy, war-chief, Indiana Indian Tribal chief (Francis Godfroy), around 1860–1876, watercolor portraits with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Jim – God[f]roy, Indiana Indian (Jim Godfroy, full-length portrait), 1837, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Jim Godfroy, Indiana Indian (Jim Godfroy), around 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Kaw-Kawk-Kay, Indiana Potawatomi Tribal chief, 1837, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Known as Mary Ann, daughter of Ben-Ache and wife of Pe-Ash-Wah, Indiana Indians, 1842, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Mendicant Indians, Indiana Indians, 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Miami Indian, called Ken-Tuck, Indiana Miami Indian, 1850, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Miami Indian girl no 26, Indiana Miami Indian, 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Miami Indian no 21, Indiana Miami Indian, 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Miss en nah go gwah, Indiana Potawatomi Indian, 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Mother of We-Wis-Sa, Indiana Indians, 1860–1876, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Sun-Go-Waw, Indiana Potawatomi Indian, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Wewissa, Indiana Potawatomi Indian, around 1838, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Yo-Ca-Top-Kone, 1863–1871, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association

Watercolor Landscapes

• Deaf Man's Village, Indiana Potawatomi village, around 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Indian burial, Kee-waw-nay Village 1837, Indiana Indians, around 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Indian Burial Kee-Waw-Nay Village 1837, around 1863–1871, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Lake Man-i-tou, Devil's Lake, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Logansport Indiana, July 8, 1837, Indiana Indians, 1837, watercolor with ink on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association
• Nan-matches-sin-a-wa 1839, Chief Godfroy's home, Indiana Indians, 1860–1876, watercolor on paper, Tippecanoe County Historical Association

Published Works Featuring Winter's Art

Copies of Winter's paintings and sketches have appeared in several books and magazines.

• Four copies of his paintings were in the Cincinnati Ladies Repository in 1850 and 1851. Another was published in November 1853.
• The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (1855) by Benson John Lossing includes a copy of Winter's painting of Francis Slocum.
• Winter's short story about Slocum was in the Philadelphia Press in 1870.
• Biography of Frances Slocum, The Lost Sister of Wyoming (1891) by John F. Meginness includes details about Winter. It also has copies of three of Winter's portraits owned by the Slocum family.
• Winter's journals and sketches were published in The Journals and Indian Paintings of George Winter, 1837–1839 (1948). They also appeared in Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter (1993).

Where to See Winter's Art

You can find George Winter's artwork in several public collections:

• Cass County Historical Society, Logansport, Indiana
• Lafayette Arts Center, Lafayette, Indiana
• Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis
• Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis
• Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Miami County Historical Society, Peru, Indiana
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
• Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Lafayette, Indiana
• Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison
• Wyoming Historical and Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Honors and Tributes

• Winter was made an honorary member of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1857.
• The first big show of all of Winter's work was at the John Herron Art Museum in Indianapolis in 1939.
• Other major exhibitions of Winter's work include:
  • Ball State University Art Gallery, Muncie, Indiana, in 1976.
  • Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, in 1980–81.
  • Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, Lafayette, Indiana, in 1985.

Images for kids

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  George Winter