To many museum regulars, those who turn out mostly for impressionist landscapes or Rembrandt portraits, American Indian art can at first seem a little exotic and even off-putting.
The symbols, techniques and materials, like feathers or porcupine quills, can certainly vary from those in European-derived art, and there are fewer household names, like Monet or Rubens, to guide the way.
But a tour of the overhauled American Indian galleries opening Jan. 30 on the third story of the Denver Art Museum’s original building makes clear that this aesthetic world is not so different after all. Consider:
• Like nearly every other part of the world, the history of American Indian art can be traced back thousands of years, and its vibrant continuum runs through today, with dozens of examples of contemporary works on display here.
• Although prejudice or ignorance kept names from always being recorded, American Indian art has its share of artistic giants. Among those highlighted in this new installation is Nampeyo, who drew on ancestral designs to reinvigorate modern Hopi pottery.
• The visual language can seem unfamiliar, but Indian artists, like artists around the globe, have created sculpture, paintings and decorative objects in both representational and abstract styles, and they have used many of the same materials, including clay and textiles.
To help guide uninitiated viewers, the new galleries, which can contain about 700 works — 650 of which have never been shown before, abound with contextual aids, from labels and wall graphics to varied multimedia info.
A video monitor at one entrance to the galleries, for example, poses the question: What is American Indian art? Does it have to be functional? Does it have to be old? Does it have to be handmade?
But even ignoring such context, Nancy Blomberg, curator of native arts, believes the innate beauty of this work speaks for itself, if viewers are simply open to it.
“I don’t think you can go past that display of eye-dazzler (Southwest) textiles and not say, ‘Wow, isn’t this stuff gorgeous?’ ” Blomberg said.
Aesthetics stressed
The big change in these newly installed galleries is the enhanced emphasis on the aesthetics of these objects and the artists who produced them.
“We are trying to make the gallery much more artist-centric,” she said. “I want our visitors to realize that individual artists did create these objects, whether or not we know their names, and to look at the hand and the eye of the artist and to recognize the differences and the choices that they made.”
That might sound obvious, but until the past several decades, art museums, if they paid much attention at all, typically addressed Indian art from an exclusively ethnographic point of view, showcasing the historical and cultural significance of such objects.
The Denver Art Museum has maintained the traditional geographical organization for the Indian galleries, dividing them into nine overall regional areas, like the artists of the Arctic or artists of the Southwest.
Blomberg said that the museum asked visitors in focus groups about other possible configurations, and they almost universally expressed a desire to stick with the geographical approach that many learned as children.
“People said, ‘That’s interesting, but give us something that we’re comfortable with first, something we can hang our hat on first, and then you can take us in another direction,’ ” Blomberg said. “We heard it again and again.”
But beneath those overall geographical headings, Blomberg has arranged the displays primarily by artist or by types of art. There is a section, for example, devoted to dozens of works by the great Hopi potter Nampeyo and her many descendants who extend to the present day.
Another area focuses on shirts and coats, ranging from a Faw Faw Coat from about 1890 that was created as part of a religious movement begun by William Faw Faw to a contemporary war shirt commissioned from Northern Cheyenne artist Bently Spang of Billings, Mont.
Contemporary offerings, like this new piece by Spang, make up 10 to 15 percent of the works on view. Another example is Cochiti artist Mateo Romero’s painting “Untitled, Bonnie and Clyde Series, No. 3” (1992), in which he reinterprets the two outlaws as Indian youths.
“I want to expand definitions of what constitutes American Indian art,” Blomberg said. “It is not just beadwork from 1860 or 1880. But it is ongoing, and it has changed radically. It constantly changes. It’s still changing.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
Denver Art Museum’s New American Indian Galleries
What: The Denver Art Museum has renovated and reinstalled its Indian galleries, with about 700 objects, including about 650 that have never been shown. The new exhibit puts an emphasis on the individual artists who created the works. The new configuration employs mostly open- display platforms and a minimum of vitrines.
When: The galleries open to the public on Jan. 30, with a private event for members on Saturday. Where: The 23,000-square-foot galleries occupy the third floor of the museum’s original north building. The museum complex is at West 13th Avenue between Bannock Street and Broadway.
Cost: The museum declined to provide the exact cost of the project, but spokeswoman Kristy Bassuener said it was in the “low millions of dollars.” In addition to $300,000 from the city’s capital-improvement program used to replace the floor’s 30-year-old windows, support came from donations and the museum’s general fund.
History: The DAM was one of the first American art museums to collect Indian art, beginning its collection in 1925. With 18,000 objects, its holdings are among the largest and most comprehensive of any art museum in the country.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Cost: Free with regular museum admission.
Information: 720-865-5000 or
