Art
A 20th-Century Kiowa Photographer Whose Work Shows Tradition in Transition
For five decades at the beginning of the 20th century, Horace Poolaw photographed a Kiowa community in flux.
Native American Art
Art
Nicholas Galanin Is Part of a Generation That Is Redefining "Native"
SAN FRANCISCO — How would you describe the art of Native Americans? If you were unfamiliar with the field of Native American contemporary art then you might muse on woven rugs in rich hues, ceramic vessels, silver jewelry inlaid with turquoise, petroglyphs etched or painted on sandstone walls, and c
Art
Beyond the Curio: A Native American Artist Who Never Quite Breaks Free
Woody Crumbo spent six decades of the mid-20th century promoting Native American art to the mainstream, where often it was seen as a novelty or niche by wealthy collectors. Through printmaking, he mass produced his depictions of animals, dancers, and other vibrant images so that anyone could afford
Art
Native American Iconography Meets Modernist Aesthetic and Material
My first impression coming into Jeffrey Gibson’s solo exhibition at Marc Straus in the Lower East Side was one of a refined sensual pleasure with a complex edge. Vibrant color painted in geometric shapes on animal hide stretched over trapezoidal forms and ironing boards is the initial entree to an i
Interview
Interview with Tipi Artist Bently Spang
The following is an interview with artist Bently Spang, whose work appears in the Brooklyn Museum's current Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains exhibit. Through the interview, Spang explores ideas of Native American identity, cultural stereotypes and the difficulty of showing Native American spiritua
Art
An Attempt to Shatter Native American Stereotypes in Brooklyn
A traditional 19th-century Sioux warrior shirt in the Brooklyn Museum’s current Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains exhibit is made from buckskin, decorated with green and red pigment, hair, feather, fiber and a white and red beaded bear claw motif. Like all Plains war shirts, it could only be worn b
Opinion
Native American Art's Disputed Boundaries
Every so often an art review riles readers and critics enough to actually respond to it. That’s what happened after New York Times art critic Ken Johnson’s review of the Brooklyn Museum’s Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains exhibit was published a week and a half ago. Johnson is not shy about stating
Opinion
Denver Museum Re-Install Heralds Rethinking of Native American Art
The re-installation of the Denver Art Museum's American Indian art galleries has an important new feature: individual artist names are now included on its wall labels. The comprehensive re-installation heralds a new move towards recognition of the history of Native American art, as well as Native Am
Art
What is "American" Art?
The purpose of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' new Art of the Americas wing to provide a space to tell the entire story of American art. Yet visitors may be surprised to find the ground floor of the new wing occupied by Aztec, Mayan and Native American art, sharing space with early colonial work. Th