Art Prints from Indian Country, 1970-1990

The museum purchased these prints in 1990 to represent the art of Native American contemporary artists. Created during the 1970s and 1980s, these 90 prints show a wide variety of perspectives and methods. The 36 artists included in this grouping came from states spanning from Alaska to Oklahoma, and Minnesota to Arizona. Many were concerned with the power of self-representation in their art. Artists like R. C. Gorman and Woody Crumbo celebrated their heritage with beautiful and dignified images of their communities. Other artists, like Harry Fonseca and David Bradley, used humor to shift our thinking about how Native people live in the world. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Dan Namingha, among many others, generated contemporary expressions that were informed by their understanding of and experience with their cultural heritage. Some of these works are so deeply connected to cultural knowledge that they must be interpreted to outsiders to be fully understood.

Their diverse approaches to image making show how widely Native artists were exploring print media. Some of the artists in this collection, including T. C. Cannon, Darren Vigil Grey, and Kevin Red Star, had participated in new movements originating at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in the 1960s, this tribal college trains Indigenous students in art practices that engaged with contemporary art and Indigenous knowledge and expressive culture. This was a major shift from earlier educational philosophies that confined Native art to so called “traditional” practices. Other social influences that are evident in these art works are the Pan-Indian movement and the impact of relocation programs to urban communities.

While this collection was assembled, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 was also created. This federal law prohibits the promotion and sale of art misrepresented as Native made. It was primarily meant to target art forms like jewelry, pottery, and weavings and protect the rights of artists. In reality, it also transformed processes in the sales of paintings, prints, and other contemporary art works. Galleries and dealers were required to document the artist’s enrollment with a federally recognized tribe in order to sell art works as Native made. The Native identity of some well-known artists was brought into question, and it turned out that some people who promoted themselves as Native were not. The art works by these individuals are now understood as a form of cultural appropriation, many of which adhere to stereotypes of Native people. The complex issues around false claims of American Indian heritage continue to persist and are a contentious topic within the Native arts world.

Polly Nordstrand

Curator of Southwest Art

2020