: Dispelling long-held conceptions about the artistic merit of
tribal creations, a dazzling display of 200 works of art from the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century lends serious credence to the
ingenuity and integrity of Native American artists. On view
through September 18 at the Smithsonian's George Gustav Heye
Center in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in
lower Manhattan, "First American Art" presents a trove of richly
adorned, beautifully created pieces as high art, rather than
ethnological relics or folkloric curios.
The collection is on loan from Charles and Valerie Diker,
longtime New Yorkers who have devoted three decades to collecting
and appreciating fine Native American art. Although many of the
objects are traditional, the exhibition's concept goes far to
shape the view of the art.
In 2003, a group of Native and non-Native artists, art
historians, critics, writers and anthropologists from NMAI and
across North America discussed a new paradigm for the
articulation of Native American art. The show is a product of
that collaboration. The group arrived at seven common concepts of
Native aesthetic systems: idea, emotion, intimacy, movement,
integrity, vocabulary and composition.
"The intention was to present it and show how the artists
individually taking the special language of their culture have
managed to create works that can be looked at universally," said
the exhibition's co-curator Gerald McMaster.
