(American, 1796-1872)

Wi-jun-jon (The Pigeons Egghead), on His Way Back From Washington 1852, pencil on paper, apparently page 215 in a sketchbook, 14 x 10-1./2 in.; accompanied by the corresponding page of handwritten text by the artist, pen and ink on paper, sight 11-1/2 x 8 in.; fine matching gilt wood frames, 20 x 16-1/2 in.

Provenance: the artist, 1852; the Duke of Portland (probably William John Cavendish Bentinch-Scott, 1859); descended in the family until 1982; Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY (label verso); An Important Atlanta Private Collection

Note: Text reads: "Assinneboin/Wi-jun-jon (the Pigeon's Egg Head) portrait of the same young man represented on the foregoing page, painted 18 months afterwards, on his way back from Washington, towards his native village in the wilderness, to which the author accompanied him and his companions, a distance of 3.500 miles, and saw them enter their villages and meet their friends and wives and children, in the costumes here represented, presented to the by the President of the U. States, their native dresses and equipments being left amongst the Indian Curiosities in the War department at Washington. /Geo Catlin/London 1852"

Literature: Doubleday and Company, ed., George Catlin: Drawings of the North American Indians (1984), n.p., no. 215 ill.

Exhibited: A Festival of Western American Art at Hirschl & Adler,Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1984, A Festival of Western American Art at Hirschl & Adler, cat. p. 11, number 1/215, ill.