Native American Art in Southwest Essay

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......starting around noon, I visited the art gallery at the Woolaroc property. The property itself is a sprawling celebration of the landscape and wildlife unique to this part of North America: there are herds of buffalo on the property although we did not get to see any when we arrived. I headed straight to the gallery, which is locally renowned for its collection of paintings from the Taos group. Many of the artists on display I had heard of before, and was eager to encounter first hand and was not disappointed. Although I relished the paintings themselves for their objective aesthetic beauty, I came away from the experience with profound mixed feelings about the way Native Americans have been appropriated for use as subjects by white artists.



The objectification of Indians in European-American art parallels their subjugation as a people. Caldwell (n.d.) points out the "longstanding history and tradition of America's investment in 'othering' Native Americans." Even when the "othering" obviously indicates a potent sense of respect for the "other," the case remains that this is how European-Americans perceived the "others" they encountered, and not the voices of the Indians themselves. Berlo & Phillips (1998) also refer to the colonial appropriation of Native art, which although different from colonial interpretation of Native life, carries the same connotation. I would have appreciated a juxtaposition of art by Native Americans depicting the white people they encountered. However, I wanted to first appreciate the work at face value: respecting that the artists featured in the gallery were constrained by their own cultural and historical milieu and its attendant biases.

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On display at the Woolaroc gallery included William Leigh's fetching "Visions of Yesterday," in which the painter uses chiaroscuro to depict the last moments of sunlight on the landscape. Here, an old Native man who appears exhausted after a day's work plowing the fields with his two work horses, gazes down at an animal skull. The scene is particularly striking because it seems as if the artist actually understands his subject. This is more than as just a typical attempt of Europeans to romanticize the Indian, the "noble savage." Here we see a man, too old to be performing back-breaking labor, staring at a symbol of the vestiges of his own cultural past. He is alone, bereft of community and culture. He wears jeans, a symbol of European-American clothing and culture. His feather headdress is the only visible evidence of his connection to his people. The combination of the setting sun, the skull, and the tiredness in the man's body signal a profound sadness. I believe that Leigh actually mourns the genocide of the Indians in this painting.



However, Leigh also painted "Navajo Fire Dance," which has a more traditionally colonial spirit about it. The viewer is part of an audience, which….....

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References


Berlo, J.C. & Philllips, R.B. (1998). An introduction to the indigenous arts of North America. In Native North American Art. Oxford University Press.

Caldwell, E.C. (n.d.). Playing "Indian": Manifest Destiny, whiteness, and the depiction of Native Americans. Retrieved online: http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/playing-indian-manifest-destiny-whiteness-and-the-depiction-of-native-americans/

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