“Ball-play of the Choctaw – ball up”
“Ball-play of the Choctaw – ball up” is an oil on canvas painting by the American artist, George Catlin, made between 1846 and 1850. It is a repainting by Catlin of an original oil painting of the same name, made by him between 1834 and 1835.
The Choctaw are an indigenous American group whose traditional homeland is in the southeastern United States. They are the descendants of the esteemed mound builders, the Hopewellian and Mississippian cultures. Between 1831 and 1833, they were forcibly moved to an “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma, despite their efforts to co-exist with the American settlers.
In 1834, Caitlin was visiting the tribes near Fort Gibson in what is modern day eastern Oklahoma. He witnessed them play a game called stickball, or Ishtaboli, which means the “little brother of war”. This game was a precursor to Lacrosse. It was used as a means to settle disputes within and between tribes and release aggression in a manner other than war. For that reason, the game was played aggressively. It also served to keep the warriors in great physical shape, helped them remain agile, improved coordination, and was a way to show their prowess in the field. Stickball continues to be played and is very popular in Choctaw culture to this day.
During his excursion, Catlin described the ball game he witnessed as this:
“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 in these desperate struggles for the ball, when it is up (where hundreds are running together and leaping, actually over each other’s heads, and darting between their adversaries’ legs, tripping and throwing, and foiling each other in every possible manner, and every voice raised to the highest key, in shrill yelps and barks)! there are rapid successions of feats, and of incidents, that astonish and amuse far beyond the conception of any one who has not had the singular good luck to witness them. In these struggles, every mode is used that can be devised, to oppose the progress of the foremost, who is likely to get the ball; and these obstructions often meet desperate individual resistance, which terminates in a violent scuffle.”
In stickball, there are goal posts on opposite ends of the playing field, and players have to move the ball across the field to score without using their hands. At the time, they would often simultaneously hold two stickball sticks with a net at the end, called Kapucha, to help wield the ball. Backing away from other players was seen as a weakness. The game would usually last all day, from sunrise to sunset. Sometimes, the teams would consist of all the male warriors from a village, which is why there would often be hundreds of people playing at the same time. To help discern the two teams, one would paint themselves white.
Between 1832 and 1836, Catlin went on five expeditions into the Great Plains region, collecting indigenous artifacts and creating his art which covered a wide range of subjects. Catlin’s work included scenes of daily life activities, such as hunting, fishing, and village life. He also documented the religious ceremonies he was allowed to witness. Many of his landscapes were from a bird’s eye view. These paintings are some of the earliest depictions of landscape scenes from that specific angle. Catlin made several paintings depicting the stickball games played in Oklahoma, including but not limited to, “Ball Players”, “Ball Play”, “The Ball Play Dance”, “Indian Ball Players”, “Ball-play of the Women, Prairie du Chien”, and “Ball-play of the Choctaw – ball down”.
Catlin journeyed throughout the Americas, visiting over fifty tribes. He published a series of books in the 1840s chronicling his adventures. He created two massive series of paintings depicting the indigenous cultures: the first in the 1830s, and a copy of these in the 1850s. Although there is some controversy related to how accurate his paintings actually are, they played an active role in shaping how the world viewed indigenous Americans.
“Ball-play of the Choctaw – ball up” is currently in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, in the United States.
For more on George Catlin, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
