Kindred Spirits―Native American Influences on 20th Century Art

"Kindred Spirits" looks at the influence of indigenous art from the American south west on modern and contemporary art. It juxtaposes funerary vessels, paintings, pottery, weavings and baskets from 14 tribes, including the Apache, Hopi, Mimbres, Navajo and Zuni, with works by Ansel Adams, Josef Albers, Max Ernst, Agnes Martin, Sumner Matteson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Paul Strand and many others, in which tribal motifs, patterns and subject matter are adapted to modernist concerns. Also examined here is the impact of nineteenth-century anthropological publications by authors and illustrators such as George Catlin and Karl Bodmer, as well as Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's legendary "Historical and Statistical Information, Respecting the History, Conditions and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States" (1847-1857)-publications that provided the earliest portraits of Native American culture. Contemporary artists Andrea Geyer, Simon J. Ortiz and Nicholas Galanin offer reflections on the social and political significance of the Native American peoples and how these factors have shaped their own work.