Non-on-dá-gon, a Chief

About this artwork

George Catlin probably took portraits of Delaware/Lenape chiefs Non-on-dá-gon and the Answer (see 1985.66.275) at Fort Leavenworth (in today’s Kansas) in 1830. Catlin wrote at length of these images: “Non-on-dá-gon, with a silver ring in his nose, is another of the chiefs of distinction, whose history I admired very much . . . In both of these . . . [portraits] their dresses were principally of stuffs of civilized manufacture; and their heads were bound with vari-coloured handkerchiefs or ...

Art Historical Context

**Non-on-dá-gon, a Chief** by George Catlin (1830) captures the dignified likeness of a distinguished Delaware/Lenape chief, painted during Catlin's travels among Native American tribes in the early 19th century. Catlin, a pioneering artist and ethnographer, dedicated his career to documenting Indigenous peoples through realistic oil portraits, creating an invaluable visual record before widespread displacement. This work, now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, exemplifies his commitment to authenticity, portraying Non-on-dá-gon at Fort Leavenworth in present-day Kansas. In his own words...

About the Artist

George Catlin · 1796–1872

George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...