Native American Art History - Essay Example

HISTORY Ordinarily, the field of Native American art history is wide; however the area has been considered narrow because of the exclusion of very American art due to barriers such as late recognision, failing to conform to theoretical model and other stereotypical views. ‘The period between 1931 and 1941 saw some other developments which may ultimately impact the formation of an art historical canon in Native American art” p. 78.Native American art held at major auction houses like Sothebys were rare before the I 970s, there were exceptions.p.78.

There were exclusion of some art has made the field narrow as revealed in the following evidence: a) The work that has not been neatly presented are not recognized and are not included in the canon of Native American art history 76 b) There is omission of the Plateau and or is discussed as an imitation of the areas around it, making it hard for the art to be recognized as historical canon. “A Nez Perce shirt, technically from the Plateau, would be less likely to appear than a similar Crow shirt from the Plains, and a Nez Perce cradle might be overshadowed by one from the Great Lakes”. p 76 c) Exhibitions of Native American art focused broadly on culture areas and more narrowly on the art of specific Native nations or individual artists.P.79.

There was thus no exploitation of the artwork. d) There was also no focus on Subarctic due to political boundaries since there were within Canadian territory therefore the art was not considered. P.81 Over the years there has been a lot of artwork. The Native American Art from archeological masterpiece to contemporary work that fits into the western art canon includes the following examples: a) Adena Pipe was often included in canons as those created by a master or genius. This is because the work was known by archeological designation and location of discovery.

The great naturalism and unique nature of the pipe have placed it in the art historical canon.P73 b) Great Serpent Mound in Ohio is artwork whose date aligns closely with that of the supernova of the Crab Nebula.P.74. It fits in the western art canon because it offers immediate comparison to other earthworks that appears in the same volumes of American sculpture.p.75 c) Mimbres ceramics from the Southwest that show a woman playing with a child is also western art canon. This is because of the spectacular paintings.p.75 d) We also have Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser (Sep 21, 2004-Nov 6, 2005) at the new building in Washington. P.80.

It is western because of the modern of the paintings. The artwork is supposed to be wide. There are so many barriers that have limited the artwork. These barriers have limited the American art to be considered equally as discussed below: a) Stereotypical views. This caused Plains war bonnets, tipis, and beadwork to be collected by people less interested in them as art than as nostalgic reminders of times past and therefore no equality in the art. b) Late recognision.This made non-Native avant-garde artists inspired by Native American art such inspiration from African and Oceanic art has long been acknowledged while other have not.P.70 c) Conform to theoretical model.

The artwork that fails to conform to the theoretical models fails to be recognized significantly therefore not recognized equally. The artwork must conform to the standards and this has made many artworks not to be recognized. P.77 d) Romanticism has impeded recognition of individual creativity destroys the perceived timelessness of the culture-as-creator approach that has dominated the study of Native American arts. P.72 e) Break from tradition. Masterpieces that break from the tradition of the Native American art make the work and the artist to remain anonymous. P72 f) Political boundaries.

For example Subarctic was not recognized because it lies within the Canadian boundaries.P.81