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...2001 Conference ...Call for Papers ...Board Nominations ...Scholarships ...from the President ...Noteworthy |
Newsletter
Volume XIII, No. 3 April 2001 Session Title: Other Early Exhibitions of Native American Art Historians of Native American art history hear a great deal about the 1931 “Exposition of Tribal Arts” and the 1941 “Indian Art of the United States” exhibitions. Both shows were highly influenced on the idea of primitivism that dominated mainstream American attitudes toward Native aesthetics and culture until the 1970s. While an understanding of the impact of these monumental exhibitions continues to be important, sometimes the examination of smaller, less-well-known, even less successful exhibitions allows for a more complex and nuanced understanding of the diversity of perceptions of Native American art over the course of the twentieth century. Similarly, breaking down the audience for such exhibits into different constituencies, including Indian and non-Indian artists, curators, critics, dealers and viewers is also necessary to understand Native American aesthetics as a contested field during this period. For example, my own research into turn-of-the-century World Fairs and Expositions suggests that some indigenous people saw art exhibits as an opportunity to demonstrate their modernity and aesthetic progressiveness. This attitude was share by some non-Indian curators and artists, even as other visitors found in the same displays an endorsement of their primitivist beliefs. Such insights suggest the need for a more complex investigation of the intersections between art, display and cultural politics during these years. This panel seeks out other scholars working on “minor” exhibitions of Native American art before 1970. Papers on exhi-bitions at non-“high art” venues are welcome. Submit abstracts for this session by May 15th directly to: Elizabeth Hutchinson |