SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM

Exhibit: Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s-1970s

Location

Entrance in Mae M. Whittaker Gallery 212

Cost

Adults: $12; seniors and students: $10; children (6–12): $6; children (5 and under): free
Members always free.
Reduced-price tickets are available for scheduled group visits. 

Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s, is the first exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum to focus on modern Native American art. Expanding the narrative of midcentury abstraction, the exhibition highlights groundbreaking paintings, sculptures, textiles, and works on paper that challenged stereotypical expectations of Native American art during the postwar era.

The Saint Louis Art Museum will celebrate Action/Abstraction Redefined with a free, public preview starting at 4 pm on Friday, June 23, 2023.

Innovative artists, including Fritz Scholder, Lloyd Kiva New, and Linda Lomahaftewa, explored new modes of artistic expression in studios across the nation and especially at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), founded in 1962 in Santa Fe. IAIA’s revolutionary pedagogy encouraged experimentation as artists combined styles and methods of the New York school with abstract forms based in historical Native art. The exhibition introduces audiences to this exciting body of artwork and deepens scholarship by highlighting many women artists whose work remains largely unknown even among specialists.

Action/Abstraction Redefined is organized by the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, a Native American-led institution with a deep, focused collection. In the St. Louis presentation, Saint Louis Art Museum curators have expanded the number of works to provide greater context for the remarkable story of abstraction during the first decade of IAIA.

This exhibition is curated by Manuela Well-Off-Man, chief curator, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts; Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer, curator of collections, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts; and Lara Evans, IAIA associate professor of Native Art History. The presentation in St. Louis is cocurated by Hannah Klemm, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, and Alexander Brier Marr, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Native American Art.

Fritz Scholder, American and Luiseño, 1937–2005; New Mexico #40, 1966; acrylic on canvas; 73 1/2 x 51 1/2 inches; IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe; © Estate of Fritz Scholder 1.64 MB View full-size Download

Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.