The Outside Looking In | Inside Looking Within: Representing Native American Subjects from the Permanent Collections
Jan. 23–March 16, 2024
Forsyth Galleries | Memorial Student Center, MSC 2428
This exhibition looks at the idea that while you don’t have to be an Indian to paint an Indian, your creation is not Native American art. Frederic Remington, Charles Russell and others at the turn of the 20th century and the Taos Society of Artists shortly thereafter came from the East to the Great Plains and beyond to “document” the traditional lives of Native people as they were being further pushed out of their territories. The illustrious and often romanticized worlds created by these men became part of the folklore of the American West. While often highly realistic and breathtaking, these images merely used native American lives as subject matter.
The Native American artists that can be found in this exhibition and its neighbor, Savages & Princesses, use their cultural knowledge to infuse substance into their work. They depict this knowledge, be it in a traditional or contemporary format, giving it meaning that goes beyond what is depicted on the surface. This difference, between an artist who knows vs. one who is merely fascinated by Native American culture, is explored in these galleries.
Inside the Exhibition
