A new look at
art by and about Native Americans
Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 10, 2015
"Plains Warrior with Breastplate,” acrylic on canvas by John Nieto, gift of Christopher and Astrid Forbes in honor of Erivan and Helga Haub, courtesy Tacoma Art Museum |
(Re)Presenting Native
Americans is one of three new exhibitions in the Haub
Family Galleries at Tacoma Art Museum. The other two are Artists Drawn to the West and Northwest
Cowboys in Art. The Native American show features paintings and a single
sculpture depicting the lives of Native Americans from the 1800s to modern
times by both Native- and European-American artists. (The single sculpture is
Sally James Farnham’s bronze “Will Rogers on Horseback.” Rogers’ parents were
of Cherokee descent, but I still think his likeness belongs with the other
bronze sculptures in the entry to the Haub Galleries.)
Many of the
artists who painted American Indians, including Native American artists,
romanticized and mythologized them almost as much as did Hollywood movie makers.
A few of the more contemporary painters poked good-natured fun at this tendency
to romanticize.
Included in the
show are works by famous and lesser-known artists including Catherine Critcher,
Joe Fedderson, James Lavadour, Marie Watt, Shaun Peterson, John Nieto,
Frederick Remington and Charles Russell. What struck me most tellingly about
this show is that in terms of style and technique the art is practically
indistinguishable from art by European-American artists such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart (famous for his
portraits of George Washington) and Charles Willson Peale. There’s even a
painting called “Indians, Salmon Falls, New Hampshire” by an unknown artist
circa 1850s that is stylistically like Edward Hicks’ famous painting “Peaceable
Kingdom.” It’s an odd painting that I like because of its oddity.
There’s a great
minimalist painting by contemporary Seneca Indian,
Marie Watt, with some outstandingly nuanced
color changes.
Neito’s “Plains
Warrior with Breastplate” is one of the strongest pieces in the show, with outstanding design for a simple portrait
and some wonderful color combinations.
Equally
powerful is Lavadour’s almost totally abstract painting of an Oregon landscape,
“Release the Sun.” I also liked his little picture in aquatint, soap ground
etching and drypoint, “Dreaming of Whirlwinds.” This one depicts rocky
landscapes in a grid of six rectangles with a nude woman in most of the
rectangles — the only nudes in the show, by the way.
I love the
paint application in E. Irving Couse’s 1911 painting “Music of the Waters.”
Another favorite is Bill Schenck’s “An Ancient Place,” depicting a lone
and sad woman in a barren landscape painted in a pop art style reminiscent of
paint-by-numbers pictures. His work has been shown previously in the Haub
Galleries, and the more I see of his work the more I think he has been sadly
overlooked by art historians.
Overall it is
an exhibition with many interesting historical references that are nicely
executed.
(Re)Presenting Native Americans, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Spring 2016, $12-$14,
Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/
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