Indigenous Beauty : Gorgeous Exhibit Premieres at Seattle Art Museum

Posted By Toyacoyah Brown January 14th, 2015 Last Updated on: January 14th, 2015

Julian Scott ledger Artist B (Ka’igwu [Kiowa])
Kiowa and Comanche Indian Reservation, Oklahoma
Twelve High-Ranking Kiowa Men, ca. 1880
Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper
7 1/2 × 12 in.
Diker no. 059 LD
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

If you're in the Pacific Northwest area, you'll want to check this out! The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is proud to bring you Indigenous Beauty: Masterworks of American Indian Art from the Diker Collection featuring 122 masterworks representing tribes and First Nations across the North American continent. The exhibit is organized by the American Federation of Arts (AFA) and draws from the celebrated Native American art collection of Charles and Valerie Diker.

Tunic and leggings, late 19th century
Tlingit, Chilkat, Klukwan, Alaska
Cedar bark, wool, metal cones
44 1/2 × 14 5/8 in.
Diker no. 795
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Indigenous Beauty will emphasize three interrelated themes—diversity, beauty, and knowledge—that relate both to the works’ original contexts and to the ways in which they might be experienced by non-Native visitors in a contemporary museum setting. The exhibition is organized in 11 clusters; while the objects within each one demonstrate common formal and functional qualities, the groupings are based primarily on geographic and cultural factors, allowing the viewer to perceive the impact of historical events as well as stylistic shifts over the course of decades or centuries. The range of work represented includes ancient ivories from the Bering Strait region; Yup’ik and Aleut masks from the Western Arctic; Katsina dolls of the Southwest pueblos; Southwest pottery; sculptural objects from the Eastern Woodlands; decorative clothing from Eastern and Plains tribes; pictographic arts of the Plains; sculpture and weaving of the Northwest Coast; and Western baskets.

Elizabeth Conrad Hickox (Karuk)
Somes Bar, California
“Fancy” lidded basket, ca. 1917–26
Conifer root, maidenhair fern stems, porcupine quills, hazel shoots
7 1/8 × 8 1/4 in.
Diker no. 445
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Situlilu (Rattlesnake) Katsina, 1910-1930
Zuni, New Mexico
Cottonwood, pine, gesso, pigment, dyed horsehair, cornhusk, cotton cord
14 1/2 × 7 × 2 3/4 in.
Diker no. 835
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Water jar, ca. 1150
Ancestral Pueblo, New Mexico
Clay, slip
15 1/8 × 15 7/8 in.
Diker no. 313
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Man's shirt, ca. 1850
Niimiipu (Nez Perce), Oregon or Idaho
Hide, porcupine quills, horsehair, wool, glass beads, pigment
32 11/16 × 60 2/3 in.
Diker no. 666
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Boy's shirt, ca. 1870
Apsáalooke (Crow), Montana
Hide, glass beads, cotton fabric, wool cloth, sinew,
cotton thread
21 5/16 × 31 1/2 in.
Diker no. 665
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

Pipe bowl, ca. 1780
Muscogee (Creek) (?), Georgia or Alabama
Wood, brass (?), ferrous nails (?), tin
3 1/2 × 6 × 2 in.
Diker no. 531
American Federation of Arts

SEATTLE COLLECTS NORTHWEST COAST NATIVE ART

Kwak'wanigaml (Heron headdress), ca. 1890, Herbert Johnson, (Gayusdisa'las) Kwakwaka'wakw, Kwikwasutinexw, Kingcome, died 1953, red cedar, nails, paint, 26 x 13 1/2 x 17 in., Seattle Art Museum, Gift of John H. Hauberg, 91.1.31. Photo: Paul Macapia.

In conjunction with Indigenous Beauty, the Seattle Art Museum presents Seattle
Collects Northwest Coast Native Art, a complementary exhibition of 60 Northwest Coast Native works drawn from local private collections.

Aam'halait, Headdress Frontlet ca. 1860 Tsimshian Maple wood, abalone shell, paint 9 3/8 x 9 x 3 in. (23.81 x 22.86 x 7.62 cm) Seattle Art Museum, Gift of John H. Hauberg, 91.1.47 Photo: Paul Macapia

Aam'halait, Headdress Frontlet
ca. 1860 Tsimshian
Maple wood, abalone shell, paint
9 3/8 x 9 x 3 in.
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of John H. Hauberg, 91.1.47
Photo: Paul Macapia

Raelane 1999 Francis Dick, Kwakwaka'wakw, Dzwada'enuxw, born 1959 Silkscreen print 24 × 18in. (61 × 45.7cm) Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Simon Ottenberg, 2014.4.7 © Francis Dick Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Raelane
1999
Francis Dick, Kwakwaka'wakw, Dzwada'enuxw, born 1959
Silkscreen print
24 × 18in.
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Simon Ottenberg, 2014.4.7
© Francis Dick
Photo: Elizabeth Mann

The exhibit opens February 12 and runs through May 17, 2015. For more information on times please visit Seattle Art Museum's website at http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibitions/indigenous.

And if you won't be able to make it to the museum in time, don't worry. The exhibit will also travel to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas from July 5 through September 13, 2015, the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta October 8, 2015 through January 3, 2016, and the Toledo Museum of Art February 14 through May 11, 2016.