The concept of a discrete category called American Indian Art is a western concept which was refined during the twentieth century. Traditionally American Indians had improved the aesthetics of the things they made, but they did not conceptualize art as something separate from function. During the twentieth century, art museum curators, art historians, art critics, and others began to recognize American Indian Art as a distinctive art form and established the criteria for it. These people were, however, non-Indians with little first-hand experience with Native cultures. American Indian Art was, therefore, defined by European art standards and stereotypes of Indian culture.
In an article in American Indian Art, Jo Ortel writes:
“What constitutes authentic Indian experiences in the mid-twentieth, or indeed, in any century? By what criteria do we judge Indianness or non-Indianness? The binary construction of race and ethnicity is inadequate to contain the complexity of lived experience.”
Among the American Indian artists who challenged this foreign framework for defining American Indian Art was Yankton Sioux artist Oscar Howe (1915-1983).
Like many American Indian men, Oscar Howe (1915-1983) was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. Following his World War II service in Europe, Howe returned to art and his painting Dakota Duck Hunt won the Grand Prize in the 1947 Indian Art Annual sponsored by the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Having earned a B.A. and M.F.A., he became an assistant professor of art at the University of South Dakota in 1957/
In his biographical sketch of Oscar Howe in Notable Native Americans, Christopher Tower writes:
“One of the most influential Native American artists of the twentieth century, Oscar Howe was among the first Indian artists to combine traditional and modern forms in paintings, and is therefore credited with pioneering a new phase of artistic expression in American Indian art.”
In 1958, Oscar Howe submitted a painting entitled Umine Wacipi — War and Peace Dance to the Philbrook Art Center’s Indian Art Annual. The painting, done in an abstract style, was rejected for award consideration because the jury found the work “not Indian.” Howe wrote to the curator:
“Who ever said that my paintings are not in the traditional Indian style has poor knowledge of Indian Art indeed. There is much more to Indian Art than pretty, stylized paintings.”
He went on to ask:
“Are we to be held back forever with one phase of Indian painting, with no right to individualism, dictated to as the Indian always has been, put on reservations and treated like a child, and on the White Man knows what is best for him.”
According to an exhibit in the Portland Art Museum:
“His protest put into words the concerns brewing in the Native artist community and served as a catalyst for institutional change; for decades to come, Howe’s letter was used by Native artists as a battle cry for the rights to freely express themselves.”
Christopher Tower writes:
“Like many other Native American artists of the time, he was frustrated by critics, curators, and art dealers who were only willing to accept Native work that ‘looked’ Indian, meaning that it contained recognizable Native subjects and avoided the use of shading, foreground and background, and proper perspective.”
In his biography of Oscar Howe in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, David Miller (writes:
“Howe demythologized a romantic aboriginal past and created artwork with a continuity and connection from past to present. He wanted his art to be seen and perceived as an informed whole that expressed his aesthetic and reflected his Yanktonai Sioux culture.”
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Portland Art Museum (PAM) present a special exhibit, Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe, highlighting his work. Shown below are some of his later works.
According to PAM:
“Overt depictions of Christianity were rare in Howe’s work. This painting of the crucifixion, created as a design for the apse of the church he attended in Vermillion, South Dakota, is a remarkable exception. The Christ figure is illustrated at the moment of death and transfiguration, his body losing its earthly connection and floating away from the cross, reminiscent of Howe’s Sun Dance paintings as the dancers enter a state of ecstasy.”
More American Indian Art
Indians 101: The art of Oscar Howe, 1945-1956 (museum exhibition)
Indians 101: American Indian modern art by Oscar Howe (museum tour)
Indians 101: Some 1930s works by Sioux artist Oscar Howe (museum tour)
Indians 101: Sioux ceremonies by artist Oscar Howe (museum tour)
Indians 101: Sunflower by Walla Walla artist James Lavadour (museum tour)
Indians 101: Caddo artist Raven Halfmoon (museum tour)
Indians 101: Glass art by Marcus Amerman (museum tour)
Indians 101: Exploring Glass Art by Native Artists (Art Diary)
