  The leading-twist wave functions of the pion and the photon at a low
normalization point are calculated in the effective low--energy theory derived
from the instanton vacuum. The pion wave function is found to be close to the
asymptotic one, consistent with the recent CLEO measurements. The photon wave
function is non-zero at the endpoints. This different behavior is a consequence
of the momentum dependence of the dynamical quark mass suggested by the
instanton vacuum. We comment on the relation of meson wave functions and
off-forward parton distributions in this model.
