Assinneboine Chief before and after Civilization

1861/1869

George Catlin

Artist, American, 1796 - 1872

A horizontal oval is divided vertically into two portraits to show the same brown-skinned man twice, once wearing Assiniboine tribal attire and once wearing a dark, military-style suit in this painting. In both portraits, the man has dark eyes and brows, high cheekbones, and a sloping nose. Straight black hair hangs around his face and down his back, and he wears red, blue, or white earrings from multiple piercings on his ear lobes. Both stand in landscapes with pale green trees and grass under ice-blue skies, and there are buildings in the distance of each. To our left, the man stands facing our left in profile, wearing tribal attire. There, his eyes are open wide, his lips are in a straight line, and there is a stripe of red along his lower jaw. The cascade of white and black feathers on his headdress disappears behind his lower back. He wears a tan leather tunic with leather leggings and beaded shoes. Medallions on his chest and a band down the sleeve and side of the pant leg we see are decorated in tones of tangerine orange, celery green, and harvest yellow. Fringe hangs from his sleeves and the front of his tunic. A sable-brown pelt or blanket hangs over his far shoulder and trails behind his feet, which are at the edge of a curving path leading into the distance. He holds a long pipe by his side in the hand we can see. In the distance behind him is a silvery-white domed building with rows of windows. A faint vertical line separates the man to our left from his counterpart to our right. There, he stands with his back to us with his face turned to our right in profile. His eyes are narrowed, and his lips are pursed around a cigarette. He wears an oyster-white top hat. His nearly knee-length black overcoat has gold epaulets on the shoulders and a gold-trimmed high collar. He has black pants, black shoes with pointed toes, and a wide red belt. Also around his waist, a leather band holds a curved gold sword hilt and scabbard so it hangs from long straps between his legs, the tip nearly brushing the ground. Dark glass bottles peek out of pockets on the back of his coat. In white-gloved hands, he holds up and gazes at a partially open saffron-orange fan in his right hand, and he holds a folded black umbrella in his other, leaning on it like a cane. In the landscape beyond him, several people stand in front of pale brown, cone-shaped tents. Brownish haze hangs over the horizon to our right. The oval is surrounded by borders of fawn brown and then black. The card paper on which this is painted is tawny brown around the oval. That paper is mounted on an olive-green paperboard. A slip of paper attached to the green board at the top center reads “83.” The lower left corner of the brown paper is inscribed in ink with an “A” over a dash, and then “126” below. In the green border below the portraits, the artist wrote a lowercase “a” to our left and “b” to our right.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

During the mid-19th century, George Catlin created two large collections of paintings featuring portraits of Native Americans, genre scenes, and western landscapes. The first collection, which he called his "Indian Gallery," included more than 500 works completed during the 1830s. Most of the surviving paintings from this group are now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. During the 1850s and 1860s, Catlin created a second collection, numbering more than 600 works, which he called his "Cartoon Collection." The surviving works from this collection were acquired by the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1912. Paul Mellon purchased more than 300 paintings from the Cartoon Collection when they were deaccessioned. In 1965, he gave 351 works from this collection to the National Gallery of Art.

When Catlin exhibited the Cartoon Collection in New York in 1871, he published a catalog listing all the works. The catalog entries often included additional information about the subject of each painting. Catlin's catalog entry for this painting follows.

"Cart. No. 83. Assineboíne.

a. -- Wi-jún-jon (The Pigeon’s Egg Head); an Assineboine chief, on his way to Washington, invited by President Jackson, in 1832.

b. -- Wi-jún-jon (The Pigeon’s Egg Head); on his return to the Upper Missouri, in 1833. These portraits were both painted in St. Louis, on his way to Washington, and on his return, in the costumes here represented, showing the effects of one year of civilizing in the city of Washington."


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on card mounted on paperboard

  • Credit Line

    Paul Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 46.9 x 64 cm (18 7/16 x 25 3/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1965.16.33


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1964

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, 1964-1974.

1980

  • American Indian Life: Paintings by George Catlin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980.

1982

  • Extended loan for use by the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, Oslo, Norway, 1982-1985.

1985

  • George Catlin: Pioneer Painter of the North American Indian, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1985-1986.

1989

  • A Gallery Revived: North American Indian Paintings by George Catlin, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, 1989.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 24.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 39, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 74, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 78, repro. 79.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 84, repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 45, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20188439


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