ART HISTORY 415
Modern Native American Art
Suzanne Newman Fricke
Email: Suzanne@gofigure.org
Web address: www.gofigure.org/suzanne/modern
Course Information: This class will explore the developments made
by Native American artists in the
Note: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, qualified students with disabilities needing appropriate allowances should contact the instructor as soon as possible to ensure that your needs are met in a timely manner.
Academic Honesty: UNM's
policies on cheating may be found at http://www.unm.edu/~brpm/r48.htm. Cheating can
result in a failing grade for the course or dismissal from the University.
Class Attendance: Given that the majority of the material will be covered in class, it is imperative that you attend and that you take comprehensive lecture notes. If you are unable to come to class on a particular day, it is useful to let the professor know as soon as possible and obtain lecture notes from at least three students in the class.
Class
Dropping the Course: If you choose to drop the course, you are responsible for reporting the change to the registrar's office. If you stop coming to class and do not contact the registrar, you will receive a failing grade, even if you attended only once.
Course Evaluation: Please note that graduate and
undergraduates will be judged according to separate standards. Graduate students will be expected to be more
detailed and analytical in their papers and exams.
Exam One: 20%
Exam Two: 20%
First Paper: 15%
Second Paper: 35%
Class Participation: 10%
Examinations, October 7 and December 9: This class will have two equally weighted exams and neither is cumulative. Each will last about half the class period, or one hour and fifteen minutes. The exams will cover material and from the classroom lectures and discussions and from the assigned readings. The exams consist of:
10 Slide Identifications: You will be expected to know the artist, title, date, and location for each piece as it is written on the slide list.
5 Short Answer Questions: These include defining important terms, discussion of styles, and historical information.
1 Compare/Contrast Essay: Compare/Contrast essays are perhaps the most widely used and poorly understood aspect of an art history class. We will discuss the proper format for a compare/contrast essay before the first exam.
Before each exam, a slide list will be posted on my web page which will contain approximately 40-50 images. Each piece is identified by: artist’s name, tribal affiliation, title, date, and location (for buildings or other site specific objects). These examples will appear on the test in various forms: as identifications, in the compare/contrast essays, or as part of the short answer questions. Learning these examples in vital to passing the exam. The best way to learn these works is to create a set of flash cards with the image on one side (a Xerox copy, downloaded image, or your own drawing) and the pertinent information on the back. If the class is cancelled on the exam date, the exam will take place on the next class day. Otherwise the exams will occur on the days indicated on the syllabus whether or not we have covered all the information listed; exams will only cover topics covered in class. There are no makeup examinations. If you have a compelling reason for missing an exam, you must discuss it with the instructor as soon as possible.
If you have been tested by the school as learning disabled, it is imperative that you let me know as soon as possible. It is best that you come and meet with me during the first week of classes. I am happy accommodate any student who needs extra help, but I need at least two weeks to prepare an exam for a student who will not be taking it with the rest of the class.
Paper Assignments: There will be two paper assignments each semester.
Paper guidelines: All written assignments are expected to be turned in at the beginning of class on the due date. Please type the paper or print it out in a legible font (i.e., Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond, or Bookman) using 12 point. Please include copies of pertinent images discussed in the text of your paper. You do not need a title page or a cover; put the title of the paper across the top of the first page. Your name must be typed at the top of each page and the pages must be stapled. Papers will lose one grade (i.e., from B to C) per day they are late. Spelling and grammar are important to the clarity of your ideas; poor writing will lower your grade. I am happy to read an outline or a draft of your paper provided there is sufficient time. Be sure that the paper is well organized with a central thesis that is supported by your arguments and has an informative introduction and conclusion.
First Paper, Due September 23: The first paper will be a review of a gallery or museum show of work of contemporary art by a Native artist. This paper should be approximately 3-5 pages long for undergraduates and about 8-10 for graduates. It should address the formal qualities and put the work into a historical/cultural context; graduate students are expected to include more background and offer a more critical assessment of the work. Before beginning this paper, be sure to get the topic approved by the professor either in class or by email. Whenever possible, include an illustration of the piece; many galleries offer printed cards or, if using a museum piece, there may be a catalog with an image that could be copied. Make sure your paper is about artworks and not a biography of an artist. Select pieces that interest you. The best works to write about usually possess a degree of complexity that challenges you. An artwork that is too straightforward and understandable gives you very little to write about beyond stating the obvious. The purpose of the paper is to make you aware of your vision and its importance for your engagement with the art. Henry Sayre’s book Writing About Art and Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art are excellent guides to describing, analyzing and interpreting art and architecture.
I WILL GRADE YOU ON THE FOLLOWING:
Substance:
• Do your chosen pieces fit the topic well?
• Does your paper have a clear and sufficiently narrow focus?
• Does it contain some of your own thoughts?
• Do you answer questions or explain why you were not able to answer them?
• Do you support points with information and examples?
• Is your information accurate?
Organization:
• Do you include an introduction and a conclusion?
• Are individual paragraphs well-structured?
• Are paragraphs arranged in logical order?
Mechanics
• Is your writing clear and understandable?
• Grammar and spelling
• Proper format for bibliography and notes
Second Paper, Due December 2: The second paper will be a longer research paper, approximately 8-12 pages long for undergraduates and about 20 for graduate students, focusing on a single artist or project. Students are expected to research their topic using at least 10 appropriate sources, including at least 3 articles; this specification is intended to help students become more familiar with finding articles as they provide the most specific and up-to-date information. Websites are not always regulated and are therefore unreliable sources; they may be included but they do not count towards your 10 sources. You must include a bibliography and use either footnotes or endnotes to cite sources. If you are unsure about the proper citation form for your sources, please consult Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers or The Chicago Manual of Style. On September 30, you must be prepared to list your topic in class. On October 28, a paragraph explaining your thesis statement and a preliminary bibliography listing proposed sources for your paper is due. This will help to make sure that your topic is properly defined and allow me to help you find useful sources.
Be careful not to use too many quotes, which can be distracting. Generally, you only want to quote things that are so eloquently and clearly phrased that paraphrasing it (putting it into your own words) results in a loss of impact. Another occasion to use a quote would be if a renowned scholar or someone close to the artist said something relevant to the argument you are making in your paper. Their words may not be exactly profound, but they are important nonetheless because of who said them. Long quotes (taking up 4 lines or more) should be indented on the left and right margins and should be single-spaced rather than double-spaced.
YOUR PAPER MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
• One or more illustrations of the art objects.
• Footnotes or end notes
• A bibliography
I WILL GRADE YOU ON THE FOLLOWING:
Substance:
• Have you chosen an appropriate topic for the class?
• Does your paper have a clear and sufficiently narrow focus?
• Does it include evidence of research?
• Does it contain some of your own thoughts?
• Do you have an introduction and conclusion? Supporting evidence:
• Do you answer questions or explain why you were not able to answer them?
• Do you support points with information and examples?
• Is your information accurate?
• Have you carefully footnoted or end noted direct quotes, information, and ideas paraphrased from other scholars?
Organization:
• Do you include an introduction and a conclusion?
• Are individual paragraphs well-structured?
• Are paragraphs arranged in logical order?
Mechanics
• Is your writing clear and understandable?
• Grammar and spelling
• Proper format for bibliography and notes
Course Out1ine
The readings are on reserve in the SFCC library. Titles with call numbers are books while other readings are Xeroxed copies at the reserve desk under my name with the marking PC (personal copy). PC1 is a copy of the syllabus and the others are listed by the last name of the author.
Week One, August 26: Course Introduction; Issues in Native American art studies
Week Two, September 2: Defining the “Traditional” in Native American Art
Janet Catherine Berlo and Ruth
Phillips, Chapter One, “An Introduction to the Indigenous Arts of
Edwin Wade, “Introduction: What Is Native American Art,” in Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, Inc., 1986): 15-20 (in your reading, focus on pp.15-17, not on chapter descriptions). (on reserve in SFCC library, E98.A7 A78 1986)
J.C.H. King, “Traditions in Native
American Art,” in Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American
Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, Inc., 1986): 65-92. (on reserve in SFCC library, E98.A7
A78 1986)
Ralph T.
Coe, Chapter 3, “Timeless Works of Art,” and Chapter Four, “Tradition: Speaking to the Present, Respecting the
Past,” in Lost and Found Traditions:
Native American Art 1965-1985.
(Seattle, Washington: University
of Washington Press, 1986): 31-50. (on
reserve in SFCC library, E98
.A7 C53 1986)
William C. Sturtevant, “The Meanings of Native American Art,” in Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, Inc., 1986): 23-44. (on reserve in SFCC library, E98.A7 A78 1986)
Week Three, September
9: Modes of Display, Part I: Curio
Cabinets,
William
Ryan Chapman, “Arranging Ethnology:
Ira
Jacknis, “Franz Boas and Exhibits: On
the Limitations of the Museum Method of Anthropology,” in George W. Stocking,
Jr., Objects and Others: Essays on
Museum and Material Culture.
(Madison, Wisconsin: University
of Wisconsin Press, 1985): 75-111.
Diana Fane,
“The Language of Things: Stewart Culin
as Collector,” in Diana Fane, Ira Jacknis, and Lise M. Breen, editors. Objects of Myth and Memory: American Indian Art at the
Douglas Cole, Chapter 11,
“Themes and Patterns,” in Captured
Heritage: The Scramble for
Week Four, September 16: Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board; The 1931 Exposition of Tribal Arts and the 1941 MOMA Show
Molly H. Mullin, “The Patronage of Difference: Making Indian Art ‘Art, Not Ethnology’,” in George E. Marcus and Fred R. Myers, editors, The Traffic in Culture: Refiguring Art and Anthropology. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995): 166-198.
Robert Fay Schrader, Chapter 6, “The Indian Arts and Crafts Board,” The Indian Arts and Crafts Board: An Aspect of New Deal Indian Policy. (Albuquerque, New Mexico: The University of New Mexico Press, 1983): 105-123.
Diana
Nemiroff, “Modernism, Nationaism, and Beyond:
A Critial Hisotyr of Exhibitions of First Nations Art,” in Diana
Nemiroff, Robert Houle, and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land Spirit Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of
Oliver La Farge
and John Sloan, Chapter One, Introduction
to American Indian Art. (
Frederick Douglas and Rene
d’Harnoncourt, Indian Art of the United States. (New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1941): 9-15, 197-21.
Week Five, September
23: Early Twentieth-Century Native Art from
FIRST PAPER DUE
Marvin Cohodas, “Louisa Keyser and
the Cohns: Mythmaking and Basket Making
in the American West,” in Janet Catherine Berlo, editor, The Early Years of
Native American Art History.
(Seattle, Washington: University
of Washington Press, 1992): 88-133.
Gail Bird, Be Dazzled! : Masterworks of Jewelry and Beadwork from the
Heard Museum. (
Week Six, September
30: Contemporary Art from the Inuit and from the
Discussion of topics
for second paper
Kristin K. Potter, “James
Houston, Armchair Tourism, and the Marketing of Inuit Art,” in W. Jackson
Rushing, III, editor, Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories. (
Janet Catherine Berlo, “Drawing (Upon) the Past: Negotiating Identities in Inuit Graphic Arts Production,” in Phillips, Ruth B., and Christopher B. Steiner. Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999): 178-196.
Aldonatis Jonaitis, “
Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson, and Minnie Aodla Freeman, editors, Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset. (San Francisco, California: 1996): 14-40.
Patricia Sutherland, “The History
of Inuit Culture,” in In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. (Hull, Quebec: The Canadian Museum of Civilization,
1993): 313-332.
Jean Blodgett, Three Women, Three Generations : Drawings by
Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona. (Kleinburg,
Ontario: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999): 19-28; 77-94.
Week Seven, October 7: Early Twentieth-Century Native Art from the Southwest
FIRST EXAM
Edwin L. Wade, “The Ethnic Art Market in The American Southwest, 1880-1980,” in George W. Stocking, Jr., Objects and Others: Essays on Museum and Material Culture. (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985): 167-191.
Barbara Babcock, “Marketing Maria: The Tribal Artist in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” in Brenda Jo Bright and Liza Bakewell, editors, Looking High and Low. (Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1995): 124- 150.
Andrew Whitehead, Chapter 8, “The State of the Art and its Future,” Southwestern Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers. (Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press, 1988): 171-185.
Marta
Weigle, “‘To Experience the Real
Grand Canyon’: Santa Fe/Harvey
Panopticism, 1901-1935,” in Marta Weigle and Barbara A. Babcock, editors, The
Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railway. (Phoenix, Arizona: The Heard Museum, 1996): 13-23.
Diana Pardue, “Marketing Ethnography: The Fred Harvey Indian Department and George A. Dorsey,” in Marta Weigle and Barbara A. Babcock, editors, The Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railway. (Phoenix, Arizona: The Heard Museum, 1996): 102-109.
Week Eight, October 14: Fall Break
Week Nine, October 21: From the
Bruce Bernstein, “Contexts for the Growth and Development of the Indian Art World in the 1960s and 1970s,” in W. Jackson Rushing III, editor, Native American Art in the Twentieth Century. (New York, New York: Routledge, 1999): 57-71.
Rick Hill, Chapter One, Creativity Is Our Tradition: Three Decades of Contemporary Indian Art at
the
Edwin Wade, “The Ethnic Art Market and the Dilemma of Innovative Artists,” in Edwin L. Wade and Rennard Strickland, editors, Magic Images: Contemporary Native American Art. (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981): 9-17.
Nancy J. Parezo, “A Multitude of Markets,” Journal of the Southwest 32:4 (1990): 563-575.
Week Ten, October 28: Development of Easel Painting: Kiowa Five, The Santa Fe Studio, Norval Morrisseau, and others
THESIS STATEMENT AND
PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
Tryntje Van
Ness
J.J. Brody,
Chapter 3, “A Tradition Is Born,” in
J.J. Brody, “The Transition to the Mainstream,” in Indian Painters and White Patrons. (Albuquerque, New Mexico: The University of New Mexico Press, 1971).
Elizabeth McLuhan, Norval
Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers. (New York, New
York: Methuen, 1984): 28-74;
Warner, “Nature and Spirit in
Contemporary Native
Week Eleven, November 4: Modes of Display, Part II: The “Primitivism” Show and the Rise of Native–Run Museums
Nancy J. Fuller, “The Museum as a Vehicle for Community Empowerment The Ak-Chin Indian Community Ecomuseum Project,” in Ivan Karp, Christine Mullen Kreamer, and Steven D. Lavine, editors, Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992): 327-365.
James Clifford, Chapter 9, “Histories of the Tribal and the Modern,” in Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art.. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988): 189-214.
Marianna Torgovnick, Chapter 6, “William Rubin and the Dynamics of Primitivism,” Gone Primitive: Savage Intellects, Modern Lives. (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago, 1990): 119-137.
Aldona Jonaitis, “Chiefly
Feasts: The Creation of an Exhibition,”
in Aldona Jonaitis, editor, Cheifly Feasts:
The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch.
William Rubin, “Primitivism” in Twentieth Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern. (New York, New York: Museum of Modern, 1984): 85-97. (on reserve in SFCC Library N 6494 P7 P75 1984).
Week Twelve, November 11: 1990 NAGPRA; Indian artist – or artist who is Indian? The question of identity in the work of Fritz Scholder, Jimmy Durham, Kay WalkingStick, and others.
Fritz Scholder, “Scholder on Scholder,” American Indian Art Magazine 1:2 (Spring 1976): 50-55.
Jamake Highwater, “Fritz Scholder,” in The Sweetgrass Lives On. (New York: Lippincott and Crowell, 1980).
Judy Collischan and
Jimmie Durham, “This Ground Has Been Covered,” Artforum (Summer 1988): 99-105.
Laura Mulvey, “Survey,” and Jimmie Durham, “Writings”, in Jimmie Durham. (London: Phaidon, 1995).
Gloria Cranmer Webster, “From Colonization to Repatriation,” in Gerald McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin, editors, Indigena : Contemporary Native Perspectives. (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre ; Hull, Quebec : Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1992).
Rennard Strickland and Margaret Archuleta, “The Way People Were Meant to Live: The Shared Visions of Twentieth Century Native American Painters and Sculptors,” in Shared Visions. (Phoenix, Arizona: The Heard Museum, 1991).
Week Thirteen, November 18: Contemporary Issues in Contemporary Native Art: James Luna, Shelley Niro, Harry Fonseca, Diego Romero, and others
Alan Ryan, Chapter One, “The Trickster Shift,” and Chapter 2, “The Re/Creation of Identity,” in The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art. (Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1999): 3-91.
Rebecca Belmore, Rebecca Belmore : The Named and the Unnamed. (
Lori Blondeau and Bradlee Larocque, “Surreal, Post-Indian Subterranean Blues,” Mix: The Magazine of Artist-Run Culture 23, no. 3 (Winter 1997 / 1998): 46-53.
Rebecca Solnit, “The Postmodern Old West, or the Procession of Cowboys and Indians, Part II: Indians, or Breaking Out of the Picture,” Art Issues 45 (November-December 1996): 26-31.
Charlotte Townsend-Gault, “Ritualizing Ritual's Rituals: Ritual as a Vehicle for Personal and Social Negotiation in Contemporary Native American Art,” Art Journal 51 (Fall 1992): 51-58.
Joseph Traugott, “Native American Artists and the Postmodern Cultural Divide,” Art Journal (Fall, 1992).
Week Fourteen, November 25: Thanksgiving Break
Week Fifteen, December 2: In-Class Presentations
SECOND PAPER DUE
Week Sixteen, December 9: Course Conclusion
FINAL EXAM
Selected Bibliography
Anderson, Duane. When
Rain Gods Reigned: From Curios to Art at
Tesuque Pueblo. (
--. All That
Glitters: The Emergence of Native
American Micaceous Art Pottery in
--. Legacy: Southwest Indian Art at the
Ben-Amos, Paula, “Pidgin Languages and Tourist Arts,” Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 4:2 (Winter, 1977): 128-139.
Berlo, Janet Catherine, and Ruth Phillips. Native North American Art. (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Berlo, Janet Catherine. “Drawing (upon) the Past: Negotiating Identities in Inuit Graphic Arts Production,” in Phillips, Ruth B., and Christopher B. Steiner. Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999): 178-196.
--, editor. The Early Years of Native American Art History. (Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1992).
Blodgett, Jean. Three Women,
Three Generations : Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and
Shuvinai Ashoona.
(Kleinburg, Ontario: McMichael
Canadian Art Collection, 1999).
Brody, J.J.
--. Indian Painters and White Patrons. (Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1971).
Chapman, William Ryan.
“Arranging Ethnology:
Clifford, James. Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art.. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988).
Cohodas, Marvin. “Louisa Keyser and the Cohns: Mythmaking and Basket Making in the American West,” in Janet Catherine Berlo, editor, The Early Years of Native American Art History. (Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1992): 88-133.
Cole, Douglas. Captured
Heritage: The Scramble for
Douglas,
Fane, Diana, Ira Jacknis, and Lise M. Breen, editors. Objects of Myth and Memory: American Indian Art at the
Fane, Diana. “The
Language of Things: Stewart Culin as
Collector,” in Diana Fane, Ira Jacknis, and Lise M. Breen, editors. Objects of Myth and Memory: American Indian Art at the
Fuller, Nancy J. “The Museum as a Vehicle for Community Empowerment The Ak-Chin Indian Community Ecomuseum Project,” in Ivan Karp, Christing Mullen Kreamer, and Steven D. Lavine, editors, Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992): 327-365.
Gordon,
Harjo, Suzan Shown. “
Haberland, Wolfgang, “Aesthetics in Native American Art,” in
Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (
Hedlund,
Hinsley, Curtis M.
“From Shell-Heaps to Stelae:
Early Anthropology at the
--. “The World as Marketplace: Commodification of the Exotic at the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1983,” in Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, editors, Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1991): 344-365.
Hoffman, Gerald, editor. In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. (Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1993).
Houle, Robert. “The
Spiritual Legacy of the Ancient Ones,” in Diana Nemiroff, Robert Houle, and
Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land Spirit
Power: First Nations at the National
Gallery of
Jacknis, Ira. “Franz Boas and Exhibits: On the Limitations of the Museum Method of Anthropology,” in George W. Stocking, Jr., Objects and Others: Essays on Museum and Material Culture. (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985): 75-111.
--. “The Road to
Beauty: Stewart Culin’s American Indian
Exhibitions at The Brooklyn Museum,” in Diana Fane, Ira Jacknis, and Lise M.
Breen, editors. Objects of Myth and
Memory: American Indian Art at the
Jonaitis, Aldonatis.
“
King, J.C.H. King, “Traditions in Native American Art,” in
Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (
Kramer, Barbara.
“Nampeyo, Hopi House, and the
Krinsky, Carol Herselle. Contemporary Native American Architecture: Cultural Regeneration and Creativity. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
La Farge, Oliver, and John Sloan. Introduction
to American Indian Art. (
Leroux, Odette, Marion E. Jackson, and Minnie Aodla Freeman,
editors. Inuit Women Artists: Voices from
Lippard, Lucy R. Mixed
Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural
McMaster, Gerald, editor. Reservation X. (Fredericton, Canada: Goose Lane Editions, 1998).
Maurer, Evan M., “Determining Quality in Native American
Art,” in Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (
Mithlo, Nancy Marie.
“IAIA Rocks the Sixties: The Painting Revolution at the
Mullin, Molly H. “The Patronage of Difference: Making Indian Art ‘Art, Not Ethnology’,” in George E. Marcus and Fred R. Myers, editors, The Traffic in Culture: Refiguring Art and Anthropology. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995): 166-198.
Nemiroff, Diana, Robert Houle, and Charlotte
Townsend-Gault. Land Spirit
Power: First Nations at the National
Gallery of
--. “Modernism,
Nationalism, and Beyond: A Critical
History of Exhibitions of First Nations Art,” in Diana Nemiroff, Robert Houle,
and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land
Spirit Power: First Nations at the
National Gallery of
Peterson, Susan. Pottery by American Indian Women: The Legacy of Generations. (New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1997).
Phillips, Ruth B., and Christopher B. Steiner. Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999).
Phillips, Ruth. “Nuns, Ladies, and the ‘Queen of the Huron’: Appropriating the Savage in Nineteenth-Century Huron Tourist Art,” in Phillips, Ruth B., and Christopher B. Steiner. Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999): 33-50.
Potter, Kristin K. “James Houston, Armchair Tourism, and the Marketing of Inuit Art,” in W. Jackson Rushing, III, editor, Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories. (London and New York: Routledge Press, 1999): 39-56.
Price, Sally. Primitive Art in Civilized Places. (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
Rushing, III, W. Jackson, editor. Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories. (London and New York: Routledge Press, 1999).
--. Modern by Tradition: American Indian Painting in the Studio Style. (Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1995).
Ryan, Allan J. The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art. (Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1999).
Schrader, Robert Fay. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board: An Aspect of New Deal Indian Policy. (Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New mexico Press, 1983).
Seymour, Tryntje Van Ness. When the Rainbow Touches Down. (Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1988).
Smith, Jaune, Quick-to-See, editor. The Submuloc Show/Columbus Wohs. (Phoenix, Arizona: Atl-Atl, 1992).
Stocking, George W. Jr., editor, Objects and Others: Essays on Museum and Material Culture. (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985).
--. “Philanthropoids and Vanishing Cultures: Rockefeller Funding and the End of the Museum Era in Anglo-American Anthropology,” in Stocking, George W. Jr., editor, Objects and Others: Essays on Museum and Material Culture. (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985): 112-145.
Sturtevant, William C., “The Meanings of Native American
Art,” in Edwin Wade, editor, The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (
Townsend-Gault,
Vogel, Susan. “Always True to the Object, In Our Fashion,” in Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, editors, Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1991): 191-204.
Wade, Edwin, editor, The Arts of the North American
Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. (
Weigle, Marta, and Barbara A. Babcock, The Great
Southwest of the Fred Harvey Company and the
Reserve List:
Allan Houser, A Life
in Art
American Indian Art Magazine (all volumes)
Aperture 119 (Summer 1990): Silko, “Videomakers and Basketmakers”
Archuleta, Margaret, and Rennard Strickland. Shared Visions. 1991
Artforum (Summer 1988).
Artforum. (March 1990). Sims, Lowery Stokes. “The Mirror/The Other”
Art in
Art in
Art in
Art in
Art in
The Artists Behind the Work.
Art News, February 1992
Blodgett, Jean. Kenojuak.
Blount, Clinton, and Dorothea Theodoratus. “Tradition: A Contemporary Perspective.”
Broder, Patricia Janis. Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis.
Brody, J. J. Indian Painters and White Patrons.
Brown, Christopher. “Contemporary Indian Art: A Critic’s View”
Coe, Ralph T. Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art 1965 - 1985
DeMott, Barbara. “Introduction,” Beyond the Revival, Contemporary North West Native Art.
Dockstader, Frederick J., editor. Oscar Howe: A Retrospective Exhibition.
Douglas, Frederic H., and Rene d’Harnoncourt. Indian Art of the
Dunn, Dorothy. American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas.
Durham, Jimmie. “NI’ GO TLUNH A D0H KA” (We Are Always Turning Around On Purpose).
Fuller, Marion. “Positive Vision: An Interview with Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie,” CEPA Fall 1991.
Hall, Edwin S. Jr, Margaret B. Blackman, and Vincent
Rickard.
Graphics: An Introduction to Silk Screen Prints.
Harjo, Suzan. “Tribal and Cultural Identity.”
Highwater, Jamake. Song from the Earth: American Indian Painting.
Highwater, Jamake. The Sweet Grass Lives.
Hill Rick. “It Is A Good Day to Make Art! American Indian
Protest Art,” 70th Indian
Market
“Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Direction of New Work,” CEPA.
Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990.
The Inuit Print.
Inuit Art in the 1970s
Jacka, Jerry. Beyond Tradition.
Jacobson, Oscar B. Indian Artists from
Jonaitis, Aldona. “Creations of Mystics and Philosophers: The White Man’s Perceptions of Northwest Coast Indian Art from the 1930s to the Present,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal.
Kabotie, Fred, with Bill Belknap. Fred Kabotie: Hopi Indian Artist.
Katz, Jane B. This Song Remembers, Self Portraits of Native Americans in the Arts
LaFarge, Oliver, et al. Introduction
to American Indian Art
Land, Spirit Power: First Nations at the National Gallery
of
Larmour, W. T. The Art of the Canadian Eskimo
Lippard, Lucy. Mixed
Blessings New Art in a Multicultural
Lippard, Lucy, ed. Partial Recall.
Lister, Sinclair, and Jack Pollock. The Art of Norval Morrisseau.
Loeb, Barbara. Lelice Lucero-Giaccardo: A Contemporary
Longfish, George, and Joan Randall. “Contradictions in
Longfish, George, and Joan Randall. Made By Choice,” The Extension of Tradition
McLuhan,
McLuhan, Elizabeth, and Tom Hill. Morval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers.
McMaster, Gerald, and Lee-Ann Martin, eds. Indigena, Contemporary Native Perspectives in Canadian Art.
Macnair,
Masayesva, Victor, Jr., and Erin Younger. Hopi Photographers, Hopi Images.
Monthan, Guy and Doris. Art and Indian Individualists.
New Art Examiner. 17:3 (November 1989), Krantz, “Bridging Two Worlds.”
New Art Examiner. (May 1990): Letters to the Editor: “Clarifying the Dialogue (Krantz and Rushing)
New Art Examiner. (February 1990): Rushing, “Another Look at Contemporary Native American Art.”
New Territories, 350/500 Years After
Penman, Barbara H. Allan Houser.
Randall, Joan, and George Longfish. “Runners Between the Tribes,” New Directions Northwest.
Rubin, William, editor. “Primitivisim” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern.
Rydell, Robert W. All the World’s a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916.
Schrader, Robert Fay. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board, An Aspect of New Deal Indian Policy
Scott, Jay. Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin.
Search for Identity: Contemporary
Seymour, Tryntje Van Ness. When the Rainbow Touches Down.
Sims, Lowery Stokes. “Words into Vision: The Art of Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds.”
Tanner, Clara Lee. Southwest Indian Painting.
Teitelbaum, Matthew. Edward
Poitras:
Torgovnick, Marianna. Gone Primitive: Savage Intellects. Modern Lives.
Tremblay, Gail. “Carrier
of Culture: Contemporary Native American
Art in the
Tuchman, Maurice, et al. The Spiritual in Art Abstract Painting. 1890-1985
Wade, Edwin, ed. The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution
Wade, Edwin L. “The Ethnic Art Market in the American Southwest, 1880-1980
Wade, Edwin L. Magic Images: Contemporary Native American Art
“What’s In a Name?” Art News
Women of Sweetgrass. Cedar and Sage: Contemporary Art by Native American Women
Leuthold, Steven,
1957 Indigenous
aesthetics : native art, media, and identity / by Steven Leuthold Austin :
Modernism and IAIA
R.C. Gorman b. 1932
Lloyd Kiva New
Fritz Scholder b. 1937
T.C. Cannon 1946-1978
Kevin Red Star b. 1942
Earl Biss b. 1947
Dan Namingha, b.1950, Hopi/Tewa
Ray Winters b. 1950
Richard Ray Whitman b. 1949
Linda Lomahaftewa b. 1947
Duane Slick b. 1961
Joe Herrera b. 1923
Raymond Jonson
Oscar Howe 1915-1983
George Morrison b. 1919
George Longfish b. 1942
Rick Bartow b. 1946
James Lavadour b. 1951
MODERN NATIVE AMERICAN
ART MIDTERM
Week One: “The State
of
Week Two: “From
- Dunn, Dorothy. American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas pp. 243-3 13:
- The introduction of art programs was more of an economic decision than a cultural one; trying to give some independence. Starting with the murals on the Indian School walls under Chester Fans, 1932 under Olive Rush, who believed in their “sure instincts” and “blessing of childlikeness
-- School opened in September of 1932. Objectives:
1) to foster appreciation in the students and the public;
2) to continue the high standards;
3) to study and explore traditional Indian art methods, evolve new motifs, styles and techniques;
4) maintain tribal and individual distinction.
- She began with colors, basic mixing and brush work.
- encouraged by Kenneth Chapman, Frederic Douglas, Edgar Lee Hewitt
- WPA project, Andy Tsihnahjinnie and Pablita Velarde; in many exhibitions, such as at
the
--Jacobson, Oscar.
Indian Artists from
- exhibited in 1928 in
- WPA works
- Wade, Edwin. “Straddling the Cultural Fence,” The Arts of the North American Indian pp.243-254:
-- For many Puebloans, the use of ceremonial dances as the subject for a painting is considered one of the highest offenses, like Hopi Katchinas; the sacred art was collectively owned and no one person had the right to sell it.
-- Making money and becoming famous was distrusted inside
the culture, not in accordance with their ideal of “sober and inoffensive;”
being a good farmer was more important. The changes in the early 20th C. lead
to compromises. San Ildefonso painters such as Awa Tsireh and Julian Martinez
hired Spanish-Americans to tend their crops; successful potters did the same in
theft homes. Though cultural changes may be upsetting to the Puebloans,
artistic ones in the secular works were not. Maria Martinez became very
successful, used others pots. The use of hired labor was introduces, creating a
class system. The potters competed for buyers, undermining the
-- San Ildefonso was split into north and south. In the north, the women were successful with their black-on-black pots, and the women became the main money makers in the family; male alcoholism rose. Julian Martinez, considered a problem drinker, gained prestige with his wife’s money and became governor in 1940. The women in the south felt they were being pushed out of the market. The north took control and the men stopped painting in favor of politics.
--
24:
- Painting was a longstanding practice, but not on canvas or paper.
-- Many of the early successful artists became teachers
- Brody, J.J. Indian
Painters and White Patrons 159-187:
-- ‘The Later Institutional Painters” the second generation
of painters in
-- The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed the teaching of Indian art in governmental schools
- 1946, the Philbrook Art institute in
-- During WWII, many of the painters were off at war, and
when they returned the center of Indian Painting shifted out of the SW and to
-- The Studio style became rigidly fixed at the Santa Fe Indian school. The tendency to break away from the Studio style by those artists trained there was accelerated by the presence of Modern artists in the area. According to Brody, this prepared the audience as well as expanding the artist’s visions. Many tried to incorporate Cubist ideas, though not with much skill, Brody feels. Joe Herrera’s work was a great influence.
- In
- Brody sees the encouragement of Indian painting as a
result of ‘romantics” who wanted to preserve the primitive unspoiled and
untaught, creating the Kiowa art program in 1928, The Studio, the Philbrook.
The artists themselves continued the tradition; Woody Crumbo studied with Susie
- Highwater, Song from the Earth ‘The Founding of the Studio
in
Institutionalism Begins”
--Early years in
-- 1923 Indian Arts Fund;
--1928 Meriam Report
-- 1930s discover of Kuaua murals
-- 1932 Murals on
-- 1934 Reorganization Act;
-- Jack Hokeah was one of the connections between
-- Tanner, Clara Lee. Southwest Indian Painting
-- “The
- Tanner sees the adoption of new techniques and styles as a natural part of the Indian
personality, and a natural progression of their painting tradition
Week Three: “Second Generation Studio and Beyond; Early Exhibitions”:
- LaFarge, et al. Introduction to American Indian An 13-65, 99-109
--
-- for the exhibition, which included paintings by Fred Kabotie, Oscar Howe
-- Coe, Ralph. Lost
and Found Traditions 15-58:
--Coe chose works which reflect older art forms, and he completely ignored the painting on paper. His view of tradition refers to the past. Indian art is something which has not died, but not something progressing.
-- Nemiroff, Diana,
“Modernism, Nationalism, and Beyond” from Land. Spirit. Power
-- The question of where and how Indian Art should be exhibited.
A 1983 report on the number of galleries and museums working with native art
written by Jean Blodgett, the chief curator for the McMichael Canadian
Collection in
-- Nemiroff sees a move away from marginalism. In 1990, the Assembly of First Nations helped to defeat constitutional reform. In art, the Postmodern movement has given new power to the other.
-- Important
Exhibitions:
- National Gallery of
-- MOMA 1941 Indian Art of the
-- Anthropologist Daniel Miller argues that the notion of primitivism is necessary to the conception of what art is, existing in a symbiotic relationship with modernism; as a nation becomes more prominent, it looks for an art to promote as its’ own
-- Musée de l’Homme in Paris and National Gallery of Canada,
1969, Masterpieces of Indian and Eskimo Art from
-- The 70s was quiet, but in the 80s there was more interest, many more exhibits formed usually concentrating on one small group rather that the whole, including: Beyond History, We are always turning around on purpose, The Decade Show, Visions of Power. Some artists also worked as curators, administrators, critics, historians, etc. The question of representation and self-representation, as with self-identification. The changes in the art has been seen as a loss of authenticity in assimilation, but postmodern theories help show why the art is still native by deconstructing the notion of the unchanging other. It is a matter of self-determination, as with other artists
-- Nemiroff wants to use the idea of critical conversation between museums! galleries and native artists, to debunk the other.
Week Four: “Worlds’ Fairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Trademarks, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Bureaucratic Interference: A Continuing Saga”:
-- Indian Arts and
Crafts Act of 1990:
-- against displaying any good falsely as an Indian artifact. Indian is defined as someone registered certified to a thbe that is formally recognized by state or federal government
-- Shadow of the Sun 121-136; 197-212; 357-382.
-- Gerber, Peter R.
“The Political, Economic, and Sociocultural Conditions of Life for the Indians
of
-- trying for self-determination since 1969 in Pierre
Trudeau’s “new Indian policy,” trying for equal co-operation in government but
it was never put through the government. In the new constitution of 1982,
Article 35 recognizes the rights of the aboriginal peoples of
-- Self-help programs, such as SINCO; it woned 10 companies including a trucking companiy, sucessful but not without federal subsidies,
--
-- In 1949, Vincent Massey, a patron of the arts, becam the chair of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences; he reccommended the formation of a Canada Council to support the arts, letters, and sciences in Canada through grants to individuals and organizations, but the measure never passed. When two large estates were donated to the gov., they decided to use the money to form the Canada Council to support the social sciences and the humanities, more popular that the arts, but in 1981 they redefined their goals toward the arts only, but the Council was awared an annual appropriation from the Parliament, making them more vulnerable to political pressures. Visual art received the least amount of money.
-- Goetz, Helga. “Inuit Art: A History of Government Involvement.”:
-- Pre-1950s
- 1950s development of Inuit art programs
-- 1960s consolidation
-- 1970s legitimization
-- 1980s maturation
-- Schrader. The
Indian Arts and Crafts Board 3-43, 90- 123.
-- Seymour, Tryntje
Van Ness. “The Indian Arts and Crafts Board and Leslie Van Ness Denman.” When
the Rainbow Touches Down
-- Leslie Van Ness Denman collected native arts from the 1920s. The 1928 Meriam report by the Institute for Government Research of Washington, D.C. stressed the need to encourage native artists to produce works for sale in order to support themselves. John Collier became a founding director of the Indian Defense Association. James Young tried to pass the Young plan through Congress, but failed, to help marketing. In 1933, Collier was named Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and he made a Committee on Indian Affairs, naming Denman, Oliver LaFarge, Charles de young Elkus, Lorenzo Hubbell, Kenneth Chapman, and others. They tried to find ways to market and increase the desire for native made goods, without the board actually buying or selling anything. They drafted “An Act to Promote the Development of Indian Arts and Crafts which passed Congress in 1935. Collier named Rene d to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board
-- Denman proposed a 1939 San Francisco Exposition. She also
encouraged a show of contemporary Indian arts in
-- Harjo, Suzan. “Tribal
and Cultural Identity: The Case of the Indian Arts and Crafts
Act”:
-- The 1990 Federal act prohibiting the falsification of Indian Art, in part to stem the trade in false Indian artifacts. Harjo supports the law which she believes protects the artists from foreigners undercutting their rights. She points to Alan Houser who complained about false Indian artists, such as Randy Lee White.
-- The definition of an Indian painter includes tribes recognized on the federal and state level.
-- Perhaps one reason that Harjo approves of the law is that she is a lawyer herself and believes in the law.
-- “What’s in a
Name?” from ARTnews:
-- This article dislikes the law because of the difficulties in legally prove their heritage. The author claims that by this date only Jimmy Durham was affected by the law
-- The article points to Elizabeth Sackler’s efforts to encourage repatriation, raising money to buy back important artifacts.
-- Tsinhnahjinnie,
Hulleah:
-- to protest Public Las 101-644 because it requires federally regulated ways of proving identity: written acknowledgment from the tribe or a census number from a recognized tribe with a minimum blood count of one quarter. He believes it has turned into a “witch hunt.”
Week Five:
“Tradition? Appropriate Expectation or Restraint?”:
-- King, On
tradition, from Wade anthology:
-- King challenges the notion of “traditional,” which implies that a culture is static and unchanging. In archaeology, “tradition” means a group of objects or cultural traits shared by a group of people, a unifying idea. In art, it has been based on technique, materials, and forms. In design, the tradition can be the result of the technical aspects of the work; or a conventional design can be given a meaning; or a conventionalized design may be an attempt on the artists part to make a new technique follow an older form.
- Most of the objects available for study are from collections formed during a short span of time, mainly between 1860-1930, and these objects become the definition of the norm. Much of the art has been lost. Historic records are skewed because they have been written by Euro-American. Little information remains. When an art form changes technique and/or materials, the symbolic meanings may not remain; ceremonies were exchanged
- He argues that nontraditional is also value laden, indicating a loss of the stereotyped ideals, as with in introduction of European materials. Some of these items gained symbolic value when integrated into their society.
- Commercialization also created ‘traditions” to make the
goods more popular, as with argulite carving. Some artist adopted the
traditions of others, like the Mimbres designs on
- Outside groups also affected the production, as with James Houston and Inuit prints and Arthur Parker and the Seneca Arts Project. Especially The Studio and the Kiowa Five, older arts, such as painting, became integrated with newer ideas.
-- King argues that the words “traditional” and “non-traditional” are too defining and do not reflect the subtlety of the situation.
-- Houle, Robert.
“The Spiritual Legacy of the Ancient Ones” from Land. Spirit. Power
-- Houle discusses the symmetry of time and place as used to give a sense of the present, a lack of linear chronology as in the myths. He emphasizes the use of “local and temporal narratives and personal identities” -- whatever that means. He believes that a cultures dominated by greed and industry cannot survive; a spiritual is needed.
-- The piece Monument for the Native People of Ontario lists the main tribes in the area, but it is exclusive and subversive, taking an oral history and making it written. The written name objectifies and inhibits the real voice.
-- Incidents of cultural misunderstanding: turning the Black
Hills of South Dakota into
-- Blount and
Theodoratus, “Tradition: A Contemporary Perspective”:
-- They define tradition as the way in which a society views and even uses its own past. Both the artists and the citizens must find ways to integrate the old into the new. Three legal cases:
1) Gasquet-Orleans Road case, building a road through the
2) Actions against unearthing burials since the natives claim that even if they are not direct descendants they still have the responsibility to the bones.
3) 1978 Congress passed a joint resolution to ensure the First Amendment rights of freedom.
-- Randall, Joan, and
George Longfish. “Runners Between the Tribes”:
-- This article for the exhibit “New Directions Northwest” discusses native artists who do not feel they want to show in the Indian art marked, artists who feel they are artists first, natives second. They want a free exchange of artistic ideas, not only related to their native identity. There is the idea that if a native artist promotes his ethnicity along with his art he is segregated, though this does not happen with artists from other places.
-- They see the artists as having “almost a compulsion to communicate”, to share their work.
-- Gail Tremblay’s article for the same publication argues that the relation to the earth sustains the artists, but that the art should be open to both native and anglo audiences.
- Snodgrass-King, Jeanne.
“In the Name of Progress is History Being Repeated?”:
-- Snodgrass-King was a curator at the Philbrook so she
tries to defend it. She traces the history of painting, from the early part of
the century in Indian schools, Kiowa 5, The Studio, Bacone under Acee Blue
Eagle, Woody Crumbo, and Dick West. Blackbear Bosin introduced new subjects.
The 1959
Strickland, Rennard.
“Where Have All the Blue Deer Gone? Depth and Diversity in Post War Indian
Painting”:
-- Strickland sees abstraction as an ancient Indian art form, though canvas is new. Strickland sees the best of contemporary Indian art as neither exclusively traditional nor modern but “an idom that is both Indian and Universal.” The emphasis has shifted emphasis from historical ethnographic legends and events - mainly dances, hunts and ceremonies - to the spiritual, symbols and values of Indianness
- Loeb, Barbara.
Felice Lucero-Giaccardo 1991:
-- Raised in San Felipe, and the landscape affects her work. It is a communal society, strongly ruled and it was against their religion to represent it to the outside world. Though Loeb calls her a non-conformist - which her work certainly is -- she also notes that she follows their rules.
-- Lucero-Giaccardo studied the Studio style - which she
admires - but found it did not work for her. At 14, she mad a complete
departure. She studied at a
-- Her work contains narratives, but they are private and often difficult to decode.
Week Six: “Modernism
and the
- Rushing, Jackson W.
“Authenticity and Subjectivity in Post-War painting:
Concerning Herrera,
Scholder, and Cannon,” in Shared Visions
-- Rushing argues that the shift in painting occurred with Joe Herrera and his “Pueblo Modernism.” He worked in the Studio style at first, was successful, but under Raymond Jonson he began to explore other avenues in art, such as pictographs, cubism, always using Indian motifs. Rushing states that he opened the Kublerian closed sequence.
-- Rushing discusses how Postmodern theories affected the art (or the interpretation of the art). Cannon and Scholder are considered postmodern for their use of a dominant culture for their own means, going against stereotypes
- Hill, Rick.
Creativity Is Our Tradition: Three Decades of Contemporary’ Indian Art 1992:
- To show new art, painting, sculpture, ceramics, etc.
- Oscar Howe: A
Retrospective Exhibition 1982:
- The authors try to explain the uniqueness of Howe’s work, and Howe denies all of their arguments. he began in the studio style and becomes almost “Cubist”, though he denies that he ever saw cubism.
-- He was isolated as a child by illness (skin diseases and
TB), boarding school, went to
- - He wrote a letter to Jeanne Snodgrass-King to complain about the Philbrook annual show which did not include forms other than traditional.
- Brody, J.J. Indian
Painters and White Patrons
-- Painting became a strong practice only after a market had developed for it in the white community. Many artists, in the beginning, were more interested in the monetary potential than in exploring their arts.
- Brody criticizes the painting contests because they are divided into too many small prizes, encouraging a continuation of the past images rather than an exploration of new, so mediocre paintings in small categories could win. They are divided into tribes, styles, subjects, and medium. Only in 1961 did the Philbrook allow other styles.
- After the 1959 UofA conference lead to the Scottsdale National Indian Arts Council in 1961, which encourages expressive and experimental painting. Also the TA which encouraged the students to explore the art world and new ways of communicating.
-- Brody sees the “docility” of the first 50 years of painting as the cause of the burst of angry, polemical pictures.
- Highwater, Jamake.
Songs from the Earth
-- Contemporary Indian Painting Begins: The
-- The IAIA desire that the young Indian artists decide for
themselves how they want their art to look. In 1959 the Philbrook decided that
they needed to include paintings another that Studio and
-- Many Indians detest the new art as unattractive and feel that problems such as alcoholism should stay in the tribe, but Highwater defends the practice as a critical self- reflection.
-- DeMott, Beyond the
Revival 1989:
-- Exhibition catalogue for a
- The non-native audience is attracted to the romance of the works, especially up to the 1960s with the Hippies. In the 1980s personal artistic statements have also become important. Museums have helped in offering commissions, but these may be confining and the artist may be subjected to the paternalistic attitudes. In the 80s there are more one person shows.
-- The artists are attempting to work within a highly personal style. He feels that the Bill Holm method is obsolete.
-- The artists often use their own culture as a source for new work, adapting native forms.
Randall, Joan, and
George Longfish. Contraditions in Indian Territory.”:
-- Longfish and Randall see the artists as less concerned with whether their art is traditional or not; they want theft art to express their own views, though many historians and anthropologists prefer the works which clearly state their Indian identity.
- They take issue with Richard Conn, who prefers Indian paintings to look Indian, and with Edwin Wade, whose Magic Images divides the work and anything which is not traditional’ is subversive.
Week Seven:
“Political Activism”:
- Traugott, Joseph.
“Native American Artists and the Postmodern Cultural Divide.” Art Journal
-- Traugott points to the dilemma facing Native artists who stop making purely native images, as with Scholder, and lose their market..
Final Slide Review,
Modern Native American Spring 1994: April 29th and May 11th
1. Frank LaPena, Deer Rattle -- Deer Dancer, 1981.
2. Frank LaPena, Sacred Spring, 1981.
3. George Morrison, Red Totem, 1980.
4. James Havard, Flattened-Out Brahma Skin, 1980.
5. Norval Morrisseau, Man Changing into Thunderbird, 1958.
6. Norval Morrisseau, Portrait of the Artist at Jesus Christ, 1966.
7. Norvel Morrisseau, Man Changing into Thunderbird, 1977.
8. Arthur Shilling, Untitled, before 1986.
9. Daphne Odjig, Hoop Dance, 1975.
10. Daphne Odjig, Family Portrait, 1976.
11. Allen Sapp, Sleeping Grandmother, before 1977.
12. Allen Sapp, Inside My Old Home a Long Time Ago, before 1977.
13. Allan Houser, War Pony, 1978.
14. Allan Houser, The Potter, 1982.
15. Allan Houser, Hidden Beauty, 1983.
16. Allan Houser, Quiet Harmony, 1986.
17. Bob Haozous, Model Sans Artiste, 1987.
18. Bob Haozcus, Border Crossing 1991.
19. Bob Haozous, Border Crossing (rev.), 1991.
20. Joseph Jacobs, Turtle Life After Death of Turtle, 1975.
21. Joseph Jacobs, Power Arising from Curing Society, 1976.
22. Doug Coffin, Animal Spirit Shield Totem 1988.
23. Bill Reid, Spirit of Haida Gwaii 1991.
24. Dempsey Bob, The Smart One! 1989.
25. Truman Lowe, Water Spirit #1 1991.
26. Anonymous --
27. Kagvik, Hunter 1969.
28. Pitseolak, Spring Visitor 1974.
29. Ruth Annaqtusit (
30. Art Thompson, Pook-ups 1980.
31. Doug Yeomans, Eagle Dancer 1980.
32. Pablita Velarde,
33. Pablita Velarde, The Emergence of the Tewa: In the Beginning
34. Pablita Velarde, The Emergence of the Tewa: The Spaniards Came 1976.
35. Helen Hardin, Medicine Talk 1964.
36. Helen Hardin, One Soul Is Singing Two Sings 1980.
37. Nora Naranjo—Morse, The Bird Is Transformed When She Comes Home 1986.
38. Nora Naranjo Morse, Pearlene Teaching Her Cousins Poker, 1987.
39. Susie Bevins, People in Peril: Bound by Alcohol, 1988.
40. Susie Bevins, Two worlds 1991.
41. Jean LaMarr, Just Wanna Dance 1983
42. Jean LaMarr, Vuarneted Indian Cowboy, 1984.
43. Jean LaMarr, Seven from Hell c. 1992.
44. Jimmie Durham, Performance -- from The Decade Show, 1990.
45. Rebecca Belmore, Speaking to Their Mother, 1991
46. Ron Anderson, Car Scaffold Burial, 1984
47. James Luna, Before
48. Jolene Rickard, Self-Portrait -- Three Sisters 1988.
49. Jolene Rickard, Two Canoes, 1988.
50. Carmen Little Turtle, Bailerina y Tierra, 1989.
51. Hulleah Tsinhahjinnie, When Did Dreams of White
52. Jeffrey Thomas, 4 Dancers.
53. Jeffrey Thomas, Kevin Haywahe 1990.
54. Jesse Cooday, Self Portrait 1984.
55. Jesse Cooday, Onibokum 1984.
56. Larry McNeil, Real Indian 1980.
57. Larry McNeil, Yupik Ladies Gathering Grass #1, 1981.
58. Larry McNeil, Man of the Bear Clan, 1983.
59. Richard Ray Whitman, Hey Look A Real Indian 1974.
60. Richard Ray Whitman, Street Chief t1 1985.
61. Richard Ray Whitman, Street Chief Series 1988.
62. Owen Seumptewa, Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
63. Owen Seumptewa, Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
64. Victor Masayesva, Jr., Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
65. Victor Masayesva, Jr., Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
66. Georgia Masayesva, Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
67. Georgia Masayesva, Untitled Photograph, before 1983.
68. Richard Hunt, Owl Mask, 1976.
69. Art Thompson, Pook-ups Mask 1979.
70. Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty, Moccasins, 1983-83.
71. Effie Tybrec, Beaded sneakers, 1982.
72. Maude Kegg, Bandolier Bag, 1980-82.
Plains Transitional:
Kiowa
Ohettoint (Charley Buffalo) 1852-1934
Silverhorn (Haungooah) 1861-c.1941
Lakota
Amos Bad Heart Bull (
James Mooney
Arapaho
Carl Sweezy 1881—1953
Kiowa Five
Spencer Asah c. 1905—1954
James Auchiah 1905—1975
Jack Hokeah 1902—1973
Stephen Mopope 1898—1974
Early South Fe:
Hop i
Fred Kabotie 1900—1986
Otis Polelonema 1902—1981
Waldo Mootzka 1903—1938
Cochiti
Tonita Pena (Ouah Ah) 1895—1949
The Studio:
Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache)
Geronima Cruz Montoya (
Navajo:
Harrison Begay b. 1
Andy Isinajinnie b.
Gerald Nailor 1917—
b. 1915 b. 1915
Heart
Lois Smokey (Bougetah) 1907—1981
James Mooney
Susan (Susie) Peters Oscar B. Jacobson
Jesse Walter Fewkes
Edgar Lee Hewett
Kenneth Chapman
Elizabeth and John DeHuff
John Sloan
Olive Rush
San Ildefonso
Cresencio Martinez d. 1918
JuHan Martinez c. 1897—1943
,A4a Tsireh (Aifonso Roybal) 1898—1955
ha
velino Shije Herrera (Ma—Ps—wi) 1902—1973
917
1918
1952
1956
The Studio
Pop Chalee
Oscar Howe,
Joe Herrera
Continued (Marina Lujan),
Raymond Jonson
Bacone Junior
Acee Blue Eagle,
Woodrow Wilson C
W. Richard West,
lege:
Creek/Pawnee, 1907—1959
Crumbo, Creek/Potawatomi,
191 2—1989
From Plains
Fred Beaver,
Jerome Tiger
Blackbear Ba
Rance Hood,
Illustration to Plains Theatre:
Creek, 1911—1980
Creek—Seminole, 1941—1967 sin, Kiowa—Comanche, 1921— Comanche, b. 1941
Patrick DesJarlait, Chippewa, 1921—1973
Oliver LaFarge
John Sloan
John Collier
Rene d’Harnoncourt
Frederic H. Douglas
Eric Brown
Marius Barbeau
b. t908
MNAA
Criticism/A esthetics?:
- Shadow of the Sun 165-196; 383-424
-- Hoffmann, Gerhard. “The Art of Canada’s Indians and the Modern Aesthetic.”
- Hoffmann tries to set Canadian Indian Art into the international art scene. He spends an inordinate amount of time explaining contemporary art and the differences between modem and postmodern.
-- He traces how four aspects of Modern art have influenced modern Canadian artists.
1) Decorative:
2) Cubism: he includes Oscar Howe, despite his vehement instance that he was not influenced by Cubist art.
3) Abstraction:
4) Magical Dimension of the Thing: by which he means the “aura.” Not well explained.
-- Hoffmann, Gerhard. “The Aesthetics of Inuit Art: Decoration, Symbolism and Myth in Inuit Graphics; Material, Form, and Space in Inuit Sculpture; The Context of Modernism and Postmodernism:
- Hoffmann argues that the subject matter of Inuit art “is the primal experience or a nature-oriented people and the mythical world view.”
-- Art Journal Fall 1992, pp.6-27; 74-80:
-- Rushing, W.
-- Rushing begins by addressing the new interest in Native American art sparked by the Columbian Quincentenary, but hopes that it will continue. He also explains the term “recent” because he did not want to distinguish between modern and post-modem.
-- Rushing disagrees with Wade’s categories as over-simplistic and buying into Western notions of art, and with Gerhard Hoffman’s “Frames of Reference” because it follows the idea of the primitive.
-- He states that the history of the at is tied up with the history on institutions, with collectors, museums, shows, schools, with history, especially the civil right’s movement.
-- This serves as an introduction for the issue so he briefly mentions the authors within, and he concludes by stating that the art is intrinsically related to politics and the politics of representation.
-- Walkingstick, Kay. “Native American Art in the Postmodern Era.”
-- KW begins by complaining that many institutions have native American art shows but they do not include Native American art within other shows, a “separate but equal” misconception. Their art is not critically discussed because the critics use European values as universals, and their notions of NA artists are still in the “noble savage” mode.
-- KWjudges art by its “voice of integrity,” which she sees in Jimmie Durham, Quick-to- See Smith, Longfish, and others. Their art is reflective of themselves, their cultures, and to a spiritual idea especially about the earth and ecology (which may perhaps be a stereotype on her part.)
-- However, she does state that the “art is sacred to all Native people,” that they are more interested in ecological art
-- Shiff, Richard. “The Necessity of Jimmie Durham’s Jokes.”
-- Shiff sees Act 101-644 as a “case of ideological colonization, whereby an Indian a artist is punished for his success. Shif a difference between the importation of cheap goods imported and sold as Indian and the application to individuals since the
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standards involve the
- According to Shiff,
-- Humor is important, and
-- His work Ace Unbreakable Comb is almost a fetish, taking a western object and changing it.
- Brown, “Contemporary Indian Art: A Critic’s View”:
-- A very lame article.
-- New Territories: 350/500 Years After pp.21-27:
--Williams, Dana Alan. “An Historical Overview of Contemporary Indian Art.”
- Standard stuff. Rise in individualism and awareness in
1970s. In 1972, Tom Hill was working for the Department of Indian Affairs in
-- Williams includes a personal statement about this show, saying that he at first resisted the 1992 celebrations, wanted to boycott them, but instead decided to do something positive.
-- Gravel, Claire. “Renaissance.”:
-- Gravel begins with a quote about an exhibit of art,
funded by Mobil to curry favor with
-- Wade, Edwin. The Arts of the North American Indian 107-131; 143-155
-- Haberland. WoIl’ “Aesthetics in Native American Art.”
-- nai challenges the notion that there can be a universal
aesthetic by which all cultures can be judged. Many scholars, including
-- Haberland counters that notion with arguments by Warberg,
Panofsky, Gombrich, and other art historians, who have argued that to
understand any form of art the culture must first be understood. Unfortunately,
Native cultures are rarely explored or understood by the viewers of the art,
causing a false sense of homogeneity (i.e. all
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rapidly. But this is due in part (as J.C.H. King argued in his article on traditions) to the lack of a complete, representational scope of the arts. Haberland points to Navajo weaving and Chilkat blankets which changed over time, perhaps due to innovations by a single person who was copied.
- The definition of art also causes problems for Native
American art, since much of the western notion of art is based on the medium
and the name of the artist. Anything other than painting and sculpture is
suspect, and the names of the Native American artists are rarely known.
Haberland counters the notion that Native American cultures do have “art for art’s
sake” or an art without meaning. He believes they do, since there are
professional artists within the groups, and the skill of an artist was known
and appreciated. (He points to the materials employed, which may not have the
inherent value to the western cultures.) They also have formal training
practices, learning from family members. In the
-- Haberland argues that classic art historical methodology does not always work. He believes the Native American art must be shown as an “Art,” not just ethnographic evidence.
- Maurer, Evan M. “Determining Quality in Native American Art”
-- Quality is based on a set of standards, judgments which are taught by society. In Native American art, technical excellence was important, and Maurer relates Bunzel’s story of a crumbling bowl. These two ideas were linked, and the skill with which an object was made was a major criterion.
- On the Plains, the women had quill worker societies, and they had to follow set rituals regarding the creation of such objects. But there was also an emphasis on personal skill and innovation. In order to pass judgment of any piece of Native American art the view must be familiar with the milieu
- Maurer looks at individual art forms, Weaving, Basketry, and Ceramics and shows how certain individuals emerged, or how the standards were set and changed due to internal and external pressures, but doesn’t really address the issue of quality
- Sims, “The Mirror / The Other.” Artforum March 1990, 111-115:
- Artmtg is an extension of social mirroring by the individual through the creation of images, so non Western artists are often rejected as fine artists since they do not reflect the white perspective.
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-- Shadow of the Sun 47-70, 333-356, 495-538:
--MacNair, Peter L. ‘Trends in
-- NW Coast art has been one of the most appreciated and the documents form the late 18th c. indicate that: clearly defined tribal styles existed, usually defined according to linguistic groups; the sculptural and the 2d art was institutionalized according to classic tribal styles; and recognizable regional sub-styles and personal styles were already recognized, suggestion a certain flexibility within the styles.
-- Charles Edenshaw (ca. 1839-1920) was a noted Haida artist, carving in silver, argillite, wood, horn, and bone, his paintings. Though he was a skillful artist, most records from buyers associates their value with the materials. MacNair argues that he was part of a last desperate practicing of the tradition which the artist thought was dying. Willie Seaweed (ca. 1973-1967) was a Kwakwaka’wakw artist known for his dramatic masks. MacNair sees Seaweed’s work as a celebration of the culture, a continuation within the changing world. Both artists, according to MacNair anticipated and influenced the revival of NWC art (though it could be argued that these were the only artists known and so they were the most reproduced.
-- The white presence, according to MacNair stimulated the changes in the area, causing more exchange of ideas. Customs and ceremonial privileges moved from group to group.
-- Haida: suffered most, large decline in population
-- Art journal 51-73:
-- Townsend-Gault, Charlotte. “Ritualizing Ritual’s Rituals.”
-- Townsend-Gault explores how rituals are used in modern life, even after all the changes. She connects signifiers with ritual following T.J. Clark’s identification of “meaning-yearning.” It is both a social process and a way of asserting a cultural identity, a way to frame consistent and repeatable social meanings in a process of controlled translation
-- Ryan, Allan J. “Postmodern Parody: A Political Strategy in Contemporary Canadian Native Art.”
-- Irony is part of post-modernism, where the pieces contain multiple codes. Ryan wants to read the pieces from a theory of parody which reveals the underlying political agenda. Artists play with, stereotypes, including images of the “Noble Savage” and the “Earth Mother” or “Indian Princess.”
-- McMaster, Gerald. “Indigena: A Native Curator’s Perspective.”
-- In this show, he wanted to have a Native perspective. He lists the necessary criterion for understanding native art: recognizing their sovereignty; acknowledge the separate histories; recognize the variety and differences within the cultures; use native languages as a key to understanding; different aesthetics must be acknowledges; and the art histories must be seen as separate.
-- McLuhan and Hill, Norval Morrisseau and the Emer2ence of the Ima2e Makers 28-74:
-- trained as shaman; followed Ojibwa use of pictographic records, both sacred and secular
-- his own personal iconography of images: powerlines, heart as bravery
-- From 1963-66: •maturing of form and line, richness of color, larger works
-- “Portrait of the Artist as Jesus Christ” combines Christian and Native beliefs, the artist as a shaman and as an image maker
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Lister and Pollock, The Art of Norval Marrisseau 41-49:
-- Interview. Ojibwa disliked his revealing secrets
- Warner, “Nature and Spirit in Contemporary Native Manitoba Painting” in American Indian Art Magazine (Spring 1990, v.15, #2):
- Hall, Blackman, and Rickard,
-- Interest in creating prints, in NW coast art from the 1950s
-- The Inuit Print
-- Tries to make the argument that prints are an internal form rather than learned, since
they had a long history of stone carving
-
- Blodgett, Kenoiuak 7-29:
- Told to the camp nurse, Patricia Ryan.
- The Inuit are egalitarian, and all share the land; leaders
emerge naturally, someone with skill. Her father was killed for his erratic
behavior, since the community maintains peace. Families traveled from camp to
camp, and children were often adopted by other family members; they often died.
She talks about seeing a supernatural being in the water. She married Jonniebo
in
- The fur trade, when there were two posts, was better, more competition
- Women were responsible for the smooth operation of the household while the men hunted and had to provide food for the family and the dogs. Traditionally, woman gave birth to their first child in a room alone, but K did not.
-- Mid-2Oth c. all Inuit were issued numbers and tags. Time
when
-- 1959, start of co-op. 1961
-- Katz, This Song Remembers: Self-Portraits of Native Americans in the Arts 9- 31:
-- “Arts of the Far North:” long history of carving, painting, sewing, etc.
-- “Pitseolak, Eskimo graphic art” gave birth to 17 children of which 11 died in migrant camps; the author called her view “fatalistic”; P. claims she became an artist to make money but still considers herself a real artist esp. after her husband died; aided by James Houston, who told her to draw “old ways”; helped her after her husbands death, to be happy.
-- “From the
-- “Tony Hunt, Kwakiutl woodcarver:” nephew of Mungo Martin, in line for chief, trained by martin, learned family’s crests, songs, legends; found carving transformation masks most challenging; started a workshop with a 10 year training period to learn the rules and how to bend the rules.
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-- Shadow of the Sun 7 1-92 and 443-478:
-- Reid; Matti’w “In Search of Things Past, Remembered, Retraced, and R
-- Reid challenges the notion the NWC art underwent a “renaissance” and Joan Vastokas and others have said, as in a re-energization after a period of near death. The renewed interest in the arts was not an internal surgence but started by a few white outsiders, and Reid also denies the notion of a “golden age.”
-- The re-awakened interest in the art began with Willie Seaweed who created dramatic masks and other goods, mainly for internal use. The drama and theatrical qualities are the most important in his works. Many scholars dismiss arts made for outside sale as inauthentic, but Reid argues that there is no such thing as a pure authentic art. She argues that the recent NWC art is not a return to older ideas but a “pseudo-traditional” form, using older ideas to re-create newer ones.
-- This fictive “renaissance” is a white construct, a result of several impulses:
appreciation for the work, interest in the exotic, boredom with Western arts, and guilt over the near destruction of a culture. The re-emergence was aided by the fact that the art itself, with its form lines and ovoids, was fairly easy to learn and reproduce. Reid argues that a tradition is not in the design but in the approach, part of a way of thinking. Do the present object have the same content along with the design and form? Reid argues no.
-- The contemporary artist work from the myths and stories about their culture, joining myth and reality, past and present The raven and other important figures, such as the dogfish woman are brought into contemporary sphere. Transformation masks, boxes, and other older forms are revived and sometimes recreated.
-- The use of the NWC style to subjects such as Christianity by artists such as Roy Vickers has been harshly criticized as inappropriate.
-- some artists no longer use only NWC style, such as Joe David, who made line drawings of elders, and Bill Reid, who made wire sculptures.
-- Reid is arguing that patrons need to remove their cultural prejudices and expectations and allow the artists to explore subjects and styles which interest them.
-- Routledge, Marie, and Ingo Hessel, “Contemporary Inuit Sculpture: an Approach to the Medium, the Artists, and their Work”:
-- First exhibit, Nov 1949 in
-- Inukjak: rich dark-green veined stone available here
-- Salluit (Sugluk): not as good of a stone available, a dull, coarse grey stone; most common subjects are traditional domestic life.
- This article is based on an exhibit which is organized according to 6 areas, each with several representative artists:
-- Nunavik (Arctic Quebec): known for their illustrative and narrative sculpture
-
-- Deewatin: figurative simplification and abstraction, often of human figures which emerge from the stone
--
--
--
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- Kenagy, Suzanne. “Bob Haozous.”
-- He sees his work as issue oriented and certain themes
reoccur. He grew up in
- He preferred to depict the female form as an allegory
- In 1985 worked in sheet steel making flat sculptures, making animal cutouts
- Trimble, Stephen. “Brown Earth and Laughter: The Clay People of Nora Naranjo-Morse.
-- from a family of artists/ceramicists; an instinctive way of using the clay from watching her family; inspirations from the women in her village. She sees tradition as an approach, not the materials or even the end products.
- Jacka, Jerry. “Innovations in Southwest Jewelry.” American Indian Art Magazine v.9,
- Allen Houser. A Life in Art
- He went to the
- Hawley, “A New
- Exploring some lame Iroquois sculptors: Duffy Wilson, Stan Hill, and Joe Jacobs. All three worked in construction away from the Res and began to sculpt on the side though never trained. Their pieces are full of Iroquoian symbols, amalgamations on images, very detailed
- Joseph Jacobs began after a construction accident sent him to the hospital. He began carving in steatite
-- According to Hawley, the three men have invented a new iconography for displaying Iroquois cultural history
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Other Arts/Other Issues: Architecture, Photography, Video, Performance
- Masayesva and Young Hopi Photo2raphers pp 14-39:
-- n3 the problems with too many photographers caused the Hopi government to outlaw photography at ceremonials. Many were eager to record a life they saw as dying.
- The area was never a major outpost for the Spanish and
after the 1680 revolt (in which 5 priests were killed at Hopi) the area was
fairly left alone for 150 years. After the
-- at the same time as photographs were used as documents, a group of picturesque images were made during the late 19th c.. The reservation system was instituted and there was the need to capture a life that would soon be no longer, and the tourist market grew; postcards were used to promote the area, showing the Indians as “exotic.” By 1890, many amateur and professional photographers converged on the Hopi mesas. Curtis and Adam Clark Vroman. They worked according to specific agendas; Curtis used a wide angle lens to capture the Snake Dance so that only the dancers were in focus and the largely anglo audience was blurred, and both retouched negatives to remove hats, suspenders, etc. The Hopis did not agree to early attempts to photograph them, but they eventually cooperated.
- Frederick Monsen photographed the Hope from 1889 to 1907 and at first was told not to take photos. George Wharton James brought his camera though the Hopis would smash his negatives; once he had to ask a Hopi woman to grind her corn outside, facing the sun, so he could get a picture, and after he did 8 others with Kodaks followed suit. This alters the history, changing the context. The Hopis would be paid to allow someone to photograph them.
- The Hopis did not like the photographers but they were interested in the camera
-- Some photographers tried to sneak their camera into the kiva, though it was strictly forbidden. Others, including George Wharton James, snuck into the kivas and took images, especially of the Snake Dance. Rev. Heinrich Voth also photographed forbidden kiva scenes; he lived in Orabi between 1893-1902 but he was involved with the Field museum. Snake dance was a prayer for rain and live snakes were carried in the mouths of the dancers. Wharton describes how the photographers were jammed together, disrupting each other and the dancers; more white spectators that native.
-- By the late 1890s roll film was popularly used.
- images of Hopis were uses as signs of peaceful Indians
-- In 1915 photographers were banned from ceremonies in most Hopi villages, agreed to by both the government agents (to limit publicity since too much discouraged assimilation) and the Hopi leaders (to restore order to their ceremonies). The demand for the images was still high into the 1920s; fake Hopi Snake Dances were held in M.W. Billingsley’s show, though the veracity is not clear.
-- In the 1920’s and 30s many posed images were taken, “Cupid at home in Hopiland” and “Hopi Romeo and Juliet.” The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 repudiated land allotments and increased governmental concerns for education, health and economic factors. The market for Indian arts and crafts grew and sponsored competitions throughout the SW and Okla. Hopi artists were invited to demonstrate their skills, “living displays.”
-- In the photographs, few scenes of the open plaza and the ceremonies; mainly architecture and work scenes to show their progressive behavior.
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-- Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to establish constitutional governments. The Bureau of Indian Affairs took many ‘official documentary” photographs to show the Hopis a modern. Older photographs of ceremonies and other blocked scenes were used to fill in by Arizona Highways, which gives a sense of cultural rigidity, or photos of katchinas were used, often photographed to look more active.
- Photographers from the 1940s and 50s, including Jerry Jacka and Ansel Adams, worked at Hopi, not as recording a vanishing tribe but as a resource of the U.S. Katchinas became more realistic and used in images, often posed as if in landscape “The images were created to convey a mood, which they do, but the mood conveyed is an approximation at best, a misinterpretation at worst.”
- An Arizona Highways, Sept. 1980 on Hopi had no Hopi writers and they barely included images by the Hopi photographers; they didn’t sell color slides in respect for the Hopi but they did sell postcards in sepia tones.
- Emergence of Hopi Photographers: Hopi snapshots of family members and scenes, giving a more intimate view; from 1940s on. Jean Fredericks worked for the BIA in the 1950s and 60s. Start of tribal newspapers in the 1970s like Qua Toqti and Hopi Tribal Newsofféredmore photographic opportunities. Some refuse to publicize their work; Owen Seumptewa will not sell his photographs commercially though some have been published at his discretion; in 1976 he served as photographic consultant to the Hopi tribe, documenting the area. Victor Masasyeva, portraits, and Georgia Masayesva, working on architecture and patterns rather than people, are reticent to publicize.
-. Ljppard. Partial Recall
-- Lippard’s introduction to her book, she seems to give more of a self-examination of her own values rather than an objective or historical perspective. She owns up to her dominating white vision, also at work in Mixed Blessings her right to see and interperate. She decided in this book to ask Native artists what they thought rather than have it all be her own interpretation. She explores her own views, her personal interpretations, her desire to be the “other.” The book consists of images she found from archives, not by famous photographers but because they contain some spark of life, the presence of self. She wants to “recognize the reciprocity in the process of looking at history through images.”
- Masayesva sees the camera as a ceremony and a ritual. Still, images by native photographers are often disappointingly similar to other photographers
-- She wants photographers to lose its modernist identity as an image and the postmodern identity as a reflection, moving into a dialog.
-- The first chapter is her view of a photograph of a family from 1907. Her interpretation involves multiple speculations about their relationship with the girl, a three way relationship between the photographer, the family, and Lippard. She uses the anthropologist term “intersubjective time,” a shared moment between different cultures.
-- Jolene Rickard, “Cew Ete Haw I Tih: The Bird That Carries Language Back to Another.”
- looks at a photo of her grandmother selling beadwork in a stall. Rickard was influenced by the jitterbug shadow across her Grandmother’s cheek. Beadwork in the Tuscarora culture created a visual connection to the power of the good mind, and it also is part of the long history of trade. The women made pieces for outside sale -- though none ever referred to them as whimseys.
- Rickard states that she makes photographs as part of adapting and staying within the culture. She reclaims images from a colonizing view
- Gail Tremblay, “Reflections on ‘Mattie Looks for Steve Biko’ by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie”
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-- Tsinhnahjinnie grew up in an artistic family, one that used art as a means to survive and to avoid assimilation. Hulleah began a series of “Mattie” images of a young native girl.
- Fuller, “A Positive
Vision” CEPA
-- An interview with Hulleah Tsinhanjinnie, talking about her pow wow images. She talks to her subjects before she ever photographs them, so the images are more personal, not an invasion of their privacy. Her family went to pow wows.
- She discusses the problems she had in art school as the teachers could not understand the aesthetics of her work.
- Silko, “Videomakers
and Basketmakers,” Aperture
-- Joselit, “Living on the Border, “Art in
- Women of Sweetgrass. Cedar and Sage: Contemporary Art by Native American
Women
-- This essay consists of several interviews with the artists themselves rather than an overview of their work.
- Geronima Cruz Montoya: from San Juan Pueblo, went to the Studio under Dunn and continued as a teacher from 1935-61. She defends Dunn as a great teacher who encouraged experimentation, as opposed to as a dilettante. Geronima found she didn’t have enough time to do her own work and to teach at the same time but she now is painting again.
-- Otellie Loloma: from Shipaulovi in Hopi, she studied
ceramics at
-- Karita Coffey: Comanche ceramic artist, works and teaches
at the IA where she went to school. As a student, she felt a strong connection
to the activism spirit happening across the nation, AIM and civil rights. She
received her BA and Masters in ed. from U of Oklahoma in
-- Georgia Masayesva: Hopi photographer. She works as a mental health counselor as she cannot afford to photograph full time. She does some hand painting on the photographs.
-- Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: she is a Flathead painter. She
went to school in
-- “Double Vision”: this show was one of the first of Native American women all together. Though all native, they emphasize their differences in approaches to their work and to their cultures. Jolene Rickard discussed Native spirituality in terms of a layering, an “understanding of the Order of Things” but not as a mystical or “Don Juan” experience. They discussed the borrowing of Native art into mainstream culture as part of the overall tradition of artistic borrowing. Some create art based on traditional forms but in new ways and with different images. They discuss the process as almost more important than the product, using local materials which were often used in the local art.
-- Quick-to-See Smith talks about how far these women have come culturally. She was raised by a nomadic horsetrader father and became an educated woman with a master’s degree.
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- Another similarity is that almost all come from harsh economic and social backgrounds though most have attained higher degrees. Many incorporate the landscape into their works
-- Scott, Changing Woman, 13-27:
-- Helen Hardin had her first one-woman show at the
-- She learned from her mother then attended the
-- She lived in a conflicted world, both native and Anglo.
She attended Catholic schools when she was younger, but she also spoke Tewa
fluently. The native population had already tried to discourage Velarde.
Neither woman fit the
-- Hardin is known as a perfectionist who took great pains who took great pains with the details.
-- She and Fritz Scholder had a long running animosity; she hated his shock style, though she admired his life by his refusal to accept normal Indian painting styles or to commercialize his Indian heritage. She also envied his drawing ability since she herself was not much of a draughtsman. Velarde was convinced that Scholder was in lead with evil spirits. Their arguments were public and well known. She was interested in the early work of R.C. Gorman but disliked his over-commercialization of the lovely images of Indian women.
-- She felt that she was not a traditional painter and that the Studio was no longer a major force in her work. She was reacting against her mother and her mother’s art.
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Historicism Versus Dances with Wolves
- Macnair, The Le2acy pp.63-143:
-- Longfish and Randall, “Made By Choice”:
--Blackman, “Contemporary NW Coast” from American Indian Art Magazine
- The artists pay more attention to details when they make objects for ceremonial use. Difficulties of masks, must fit on the face
- Coe, Lost and Found Tradition
- Warner, John Ansoh. “The Individual in Native American Art: A Sociological View.” in Wade, The Arts of the North American Indian
- Highwater, Jamake. “Controversy in Native American Art.” in Wade, The Arts of the North American Indian
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Outside Recognition: Good or Bad?
- Jonaitis, Aldona. ticreations of Mystics and Philosophers”:
- Feest, Christian “From
-- Feest’s article is a brief overview of all North American Indian art and how it was collected
- Torgovnick. Gone Primitive 119-137:
--Torgovnick attacks the Primitivism show, which showed Rubin’s interpretations more than anything else. Modernist favorites were included, part of the vogue for primitive motifs. The exhibit was controversial, revealing the deep level political disagreement; Rubin viewed the pieces as above individual societies, to eternal values, and the information about what colonization did to the societies was left out. The exhibit did not give much information about the pieces.
-- The title, according to Rubin, refers not to the art but
to the perception of the art which was seen by the artists as Primitive. He
uses Picasso as an authority, who claimed that he never needed to know anything
about African pieces and that “everything I need to know about
-- Torgovnick argues that there is no such thing as Primitive art since as soon as there is a means of acquiring it, it is in contact with other societies.
- According to authorities on African art, the images were rarely trying to show anger or sexuality or to frighten. Instead, these are our interpretations. This exhibit continues the misreading.
-- Another exhibit “Perspectives: Angles on African Art” sponsored by the Center for African Art tried to give a different, more contextual view. In artists accounts, the importance of masks is not the object but how it is seen in ceremonies. But Rubin was asked to contribute to the catalogue. His view shows his Western bias, that the African objects, which are made to follow certain types, can bee seen as unoriginal, but can also be inconsistent. Torgovnick argues that African art does not need Western art historians to provided aesthetic standards, that they have their own. Rubin assumes that ethnographic considerations are unimportant for the aesthetic appreciation of an object.
-- Rushing “Ritual
and Myth: Native American Culture and Abstract Expressionism.” from Tuchman,
The Spiritual in Art 273-295:
-- Rushing addresses the idea of spirituality in Abstract Expressionism, and the belief of the artists that the same mystical sense is in Native American art.
- John D. Graham: wrote System and Dialectics of Art in 1937, a Jungian psychology; the influence of Primitive art on Picasso
-- Wolfgang Paalen: interest in
-- Barnett Newman: agreed with Paalen’s notion that primitive art gave modern man a deeper sense of primordial roots of the unconscious mind; helped organize the 1944 exhibit of Pre-Columbian Stone Sculpture.
-- Several artist incorporated Native American elements in their art, including Adolph Gottlieb (Chilkat blankets), and Richard Pousette-Dart, Jackson Pollock (who admired pictographs
- James “Histories of the Tribal and Modern.” Art in
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- Clifford recognizes the importance of the primitivism show and the beauty of the pieces, but argues that the premise is weak since it relies solely on visual affinities, not realizing to limitation of possible representations due to physical similarities in all humans, especially when working in a non-representational mode. Clifford points out that the opposite case could be made, showing how the arts by non-Western societies are completely dissimilar.
- Clifford argues with the Western modernist assumption that it can appropriate any image on its own terms. The catalogue affirms this, that it is less a show about affinity than a show about colonialism.
- The art was intended to reveal what they saw in the other races, vitality, rhythm, magic, eroticism, etc. The show does not question their own values and aesthetic judgments.
- Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings 105-150:
Buchloh, “The Whole Earth Show. Art in
- Krantz, “Bridging Two Worlds.” New Art Examiner November 1989, 36-38:
Rushing, “Another Look at Contemporary Native American Art.” New Art Examiner Feb 1990, pp.35-37:
- New Art Examiner May 1990, pp. Letters to the Editor: “the
Dialogue: Krantz and Rushing:
Wade. The Arts of the North American Indian pp.
S’s
The Effects of the Marketplace or
- Wade. The Arts of the North American Indian pp.283-306:
-- Wade, “The Ethnic Art Market in the American Southwest, 1880-1980. It:
-- Scott, Changing Woman, pp.
15
This course will examine the major developments and changes in the two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks produced by Native Americans in post-contact America from the period of the implementation of the reservation system (mid through late 19th century) through the 20th century up to contemporary times. It will explore the effects of changing lifestyles, economies, marketplaces, materials and technologies on traditional Native American art forms, and the resulting adaptations. Revival styles amongst the 'traditional arts' and the growth of the American Indian Art Market will be emphasized during the first half of the course, while non-traditional art forms and contemporary artistic expression will be the focus of the second half. Throughout the course, the relationships between Native American art and Euro-American patronage, as well as government programs, will be examined.
The lectures of this course will emphasize areas related to the development of modern Native American arts, such as historical and political events, religious movements, etc., along with the styles and symbolism of the art itself. Since this is a relatively new area in the study of art history, it is not thoroughly covered in any of the required texts or readings for this course. Relationships between the visual arts and the other humanities of the period will also be examined. Therefore, effective note taking, concentration, and regular attendance is a must to achieve a satisfactory grade. The texts only serve as a summary of the course content, address specific issues, or provide examples for study.
The course will be graded on two exams, each worth 25% of the final grade. They will consist of slide identifications, short answer definitions, and a short essay. Dates and content for the exams are listed on the schedule. The remaining 50% of the final grade will be based on a research paper concerning a particular contemporary Native American artist working in one of the mediums and/or styles covered in class. The artist to be researched must be selected and approved in consultation with the instructor. Length will be approximately 10-12 pages, due on April 13. Guidelines for this essay are detailed on a separate page. All essays will be returned within a reasonable time, with comments and grade. They may be re-written and re-submitted prior to the final exam if you wish to improve your grade.
TEXTS:
Rushing, W.
Painter, Robert. The Native American Indian Artist Directory (New York: Treasure Chest Books, 1998).
January 19: Introduction; Background and Biases
January 26: Navajo Blankets and Rugs
February 2: Beadwork: Then and Now; Silver and Other Jewelry
February 9: The Basket Market; Kachina Figures
February 16: Ceramics: Bowls and Figures
February 23: Ceramics: Bowls and Figures II
March 2: Inuit and Yup'ik Carvings and Engravings; Pacific Northwest Coast Wood and Argillite Carvings
March 9: Exam I; Architecture
March 23: Ledger Drawings and Easel Paintings
March 30: Modernist Painting
April 6: Contemporary Sculpture
April 13: Performance Art, Photography
April 20: Film
April 27: Exam II
OTHER RESOURCES FOR ART HISTORY:
Art History Subject Guide
(On-line Resources for Art History)
Department
of Art History
Visual
Resources Library
James Branch Cabell Library
more links...
VCU's
Anderson Gallery ~ Virginia Museum of Fine Arts ~ National
Gallery of Art ~
National Museum of the American Indian ~ Heard Museum ~ Wheelwright Museum ~
NativeWeb ~ Hanksville ~ Contemporary American Indian Art Scene ~