Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories [Paperback]

W. Jackson Rushing III (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0415137489 | ISBN-13: 978-0415137485 | Edition: 1

This illuminating and provocative book is the first anthology devoted to Twentieth Century Native American and First Nation art. Native American Art brings together anthropologists, art historians, curators, critics and distinguished Native artists to discuss pottery, painitng, sculpture, printmaking, photography and performance art by some of the most celebrated Native American and Canadian First Nation artists of our time
The contributors use new theoretical and critical approaches to address key issues for Native American art, including symbolism and spirituality, the role of patronage and musuem practices, the politics of art criticism and the aesthetic power of indigenous knowledge. The artist contributors, who represent several Native nations - including Cherokee, Lakota, Plains Cree, and those of the PLateau country - emphasise the importance of traditional stories, myhtologies and ceremonies in the production of comtemporary art. Within great poignancy, thye write about recent art in terms of home, homeland and aboriginal sovereignty
Tracing the continued resistance of Native artists to dominant orthodoxies of the art market and art history, Native American Art in the Twentieth Century argues forcefully for Native art's place in modern art history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This wide-ranging volume of essays is an indispensible guide to any art historian or curator of contemporary or modern art who needs to ground themselves in the issues around Native American art and its relation to mainstream Western art history.
–National Gallery of Canada

A substantial contribution to contemporary art history and criticism.
–Choice, 3/00

This book is by far the finest compendium of a diverse and timely range of discourses on 20th century Native North American art and art history. Rushing has assembled a first-rate group of scholars and artists who consider issues which range from the historical to the theoretical to the spiritual to the aesthetic, and which encompass regions from the Canadian arctic to the desert southwest. This lively volume is a must for all practitioners, historians, and students of Native North American art.
–Janet Catherine Berlo, Professor of Art History, University of Rochester

About the Author

W. Jack Rushing III is Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Missouri St. Louis. He is the author of Native American Art and the New York Avant-Garde: A History of Cultural Primitivism (1995).

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415137489
• ISBN-13: 978-0415137485
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I would have assigned it, September 5, 2011

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Melissa Zimmerman ""Mad Mel"" (Omaha) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories (Paperback)

I ordered this because it was required reading for a class. I thought it had a lot of good stuff in it. I cited this book a lot. Out of all the books I had to order for this class (and that list was unnecessarily long) I used this book the most, and I feel I got my money's worth out of it. I will keep this book for future reference, whereas the others will likely be sold back to a book store or donated. If I were teaching a class on Native American Art I would assign this book. I can't say that about many books I'm assigned.