New
Work in Native American Art
By
Jesse Mullins, Jr.
For
sheer poignance, romance, dramatic scope, and mood,
few artistic subjects can compare with imagery
of Native Americans—especially portrayals
of the Native Peoples of the West of 100 or more
years ago. Such portrayals, if rendered by those
who care enough to delve below the surface, can
be highly evocative and can cut across cultures,
sending messages to, and sharing sentiments with,
individuals of any walk of life.
Shown
on these pages are just a few new works in this genre.
As Western art continues to grow
in
popularity and expand its audience, Native
American works are more than holding their own. At
major
shows, these subjects are generally among the
most popular with buyers and award committees
alike.
Three out of four of the last Prix de West
Award winners were Native American subjects, and
the
biggest-name artist in contemporary Western
art, Howard Terpning, paints Native American subjects
exclusively.
Most
of the works shown here carry on the grand tradition
of storytelling. American
history, too, is a perpetual theme of anyone who
undertakes to portray the American Indian. Fine,
expressive works by R.S. Riddick, Jim C. Norton,
Martin Grelle, Oreland Joe, and others were on
display at the Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition
and Sale
in October, and yet every major art show of the
past year has shown groundbreaking new work....
Find
the rest of this exciting article and more by subscribing
to American
Cowboy magazine...
|
SUNSET
FOR THE COMMANCHE
oil
by Howard Terpning,
|
Little Medicine Girl, a 19” bronze by
John Coleman, was another piece offered at the
2006 Masters of the American West. Photo courtesy
Autry National Center, Los Angeles
The
Native American genre has a hold on the
hearts and minds of Western art devotees.
|
<< BACK
TO MAIN PAGE
|
