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Scees Bryant Possock (ca. 1858-1918) Wa she shu (Washoe)

First, a confession: shows about Native American art don't really excite me.

This morning I toured what is the most artistically exquisite and personally engaging exhibition of Native American art I have ever seen.

The more than 100 pieces are drawn from the Thaw Collection of North American Indian art, housed at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Eugene Thaw has distinguished himself as a collector in that he purchased items purely on their aesthetic merits, not for their cultural importance. As he put it in the exhibition catalog:

Ipuitak (Prehistoric Eskimo), made of ivory

 of Native American history, and includes everything from carved ivory and wood to ceramics, weaving, beadwork, and metalwork. Each item stands on its own as an exceptionally beautiful piece of craftmanship.

Thaw collection curator Eva Fognell has presented the works according to their region of origin, which reveals startling diversity in both artistic themes as well as the raw materials used. The collection is on a national tour of major art museums, that includes not just the MIA but also institutions in Cleveland, Dallas and Indianapolis.

Miniature Settee, ca. 1830, made from birch bark and embroidered moose hair

While the items in the collection are inherently beautiful, it is MIA curator Joe Horse-Capture's treatment that really brings the exhibition to life. Each room features a giant photograph depicting the landscape of the region. A wooden carving stands before the California redwoods in one room, while a piece of pottery reflects the colors of the Grand Canyon in the next.

The exhibition also features several videos of interviews with young professional Native Americans in the Twin Cities.

Interviewees include a choreographer, a lawyer who also does beadwork, and an urban developer who's revitalizing the Franklin Avenue neighborhood. Horse-Capture framed the videos so that they are almost life-size, and feel like they are in the room with you, not on a TV screen.

Horse-Capture says he's thrilled to have the Thaw Collection at the MIA, but it also raises the bar:

 opens this weekend at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and runs through January 9, 2011.

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

Author

An exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts documents an artistic tradition that has remained powerful and vibrant for over 1500 years.

Native American art is alive and beautiful

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