Wáh-pe-say, The White

About this artwork

“I have visited forty-eight different tribes, the greater part of which I found speaking different languages, and containing in all 400,000 souls. I have brought home safe, and in good order, 310 portraits in oil, all painted in their native dress, and in their own wigwams . . . as well as a very extensive and curious collection of their costumes, and all their other manufactures, from the size of a wigwam down to the size of a quill or a rattle.” George Catlin probably painted the White, a memb...

Art Historical Context

**Wáh-pe-say, The White** is a striking oil portrait by George Catlin, painted in 1830 at Fort Leavenworth in present-day Kansas. The subject, a member of the Wea/Miami tribe, embodies the dignity and individuality Catlin sought to capture in his extensive documentation of Native American peoples. As one of Catlin's 310 oil portraits executed on-site in tribal wigwams, it showcases traditional dress and authentic settings, preserving a vanishing way of life amid rapid American expansion. Catlin, a self-taught artist driven by a passion for ethnography, traveled extensively in the 1830s, visiting 48 tribes and painting leaders and everyday figures from over 400,000 souls speaking diverse languages. This work reflects his Romantic-era commitment to realism, using meticulous detail to highlight cultural nuances—from intricate regalia to poised expressions—rather than exotic stereotypes. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, *Wáh-pe-say, The White* holds enduring historical value as a primary visual record of the Wea/Miami people, offering visitors a poignant window into pre-removal Indigenous life and Catlin's urgent mission to create an "Indian Gallery" before assimilation erased these traditions.

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 ...