Wán-ee-ton, Chief of the Tribe

About this artwork

In 1830, Catlin accompanied William Clark, of the celebrated Lewis and Clark expedition, up the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Fort Crawford. Two years later, he began the first of several journeys deep into the frontier, traveling up the Missouri River. At Fort Pierre, a fur-trading post situated in what is now South Dakota, he met Wán-ee-ton, chief of the Yanktonai Nakota tribe. Catlin considered him “one of the most noted and dignified, as well graceful chiefs of the Sioux tribe,” a...

Art Historical Context

In 1832, George Catlin, a pioneering American artist dedicated to documenting Native American life, painted this striking full-length portrait of Wán-ee-ton, chief of the Yanktonai Nakota tribe (part of the Sioux or Dakota peoples). Catlin encountered the chief at Fort Pierre, a remote fur-trading post in present-day South Dakota, during one of his daring expeditions up the Missouri River. Having traveled from St. Louis two years earlier with William Clark of the Lewis and Clark fame, Catlin sought to capture the dignity and traditions of indigenous leaders before rapid westward expansion alte...

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 ...