Focusing on both traditional and modern art and offering an historical and stylistic overview, Patricia Broder's book includes artwork belonging to ninety artists and to fifty-seven tribes across the United States, Canada, and Alaska. Earth Songs, Moon Dreams features important works by pioneer artists of the early twentieth century; classic examples of the Indian-School tradition; examples of the first successful attempts to interpret the techniques of modernism as compatible with the symbols and stylistic conventions of traditional Indian art; and examples of the work of the most innovative and accomplished Native American women painting today.
The majority of traditional artists, having a strong tribal identity, depict the daily and ceremonial lives of their people along with their history and legends. Whereas many of the modern artists are primarily interested in the aesthetics of painting - color, composition, abstraction, and hard-edge form -- others explore the complex role of Native American women in twentieth century America and search for an iconography that proclaims a pan-Indian identity.
Through painting, Native American women succeed in achieving a synthesis of tradition and innovation and affirm the continuity of past and present. Lavishly illustrated, Earth Songs, Moon Dreams captures the beauty and vitality of the art of Native American women.
