Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1837-1839

Catlin mistranslated Ah-jon-jon, whose name means “The Light,” as “Pigeon's Egg Head.” The Light was an Assiniboine leader who was invited in 1831 to represent his tribe in Washington. During a winter in the nation's capital, he traded his native dress for European clothes and customs. In Catlin's before-and-after portrait, the once proud warrior, with a liquor bottle in his pocket, swaggers in high-heeled boots and carries a fan and umbrella. For Catlin, this transformation illustrated the tragic gulf between Native American and white cultures.