VERSO
Signed, titled, and “#201”

Art historian Bill Anthes, a leading scholar of Native American modernism, wrote in his essay on Oscar Howe: “Acknowledging Oscar Howe as a modernist – without labels or qualifiers – affords us the opportunity to reimagine the conventional chronologies and geographies of art history and challenge the assumption that cultural transmission flows one way, from the capitals of the art world to the hinterlands. Nigerian art critic and curator Okwui Enwezor called for a ‘provincialized modernism,’ to acknowledge ‘multiple centers’ and ‘local modernisms.’ Likewise, historian of Indian art Partha Mitter has pressed for a decentering of our understanding of modernism in terms of a single historical trajectory grounded in Western metropoles; Mitter asks us to take seriously multiple ‘alternative hubs’ as sites of modernist formation in themselves. Eurocentric art history, then, is just one piece of a larger mosaic, one cultural tradition among many, wrestling with a rapidly changing world.… And as art historian Keith Moxey argues, modernism cannot have a unitary global timeline, as indeed the social and technological processes of modernization were experienced unevenly and inconsistently. With Howe’s example before us, Indian Country is no longer peripheral to the history of modernism. Howe’s border-crossing biography and career and his achievement as a painter of the twentieth century are not merely addenda to a familiar history and canon but also essential and fundamental to a rethinking of art history’s timeworn narrative of modernism.”

PROVENANCE
The artist, 1952
Richard and Harriet Cassell, Chicago, Illinois
Present owner, by descent

Additional Resources

• Oscar Howe’s Past Results
• View Condition Report

Condition ReportAs viewed through glass. Painting appears to be in good condition.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders and reflect educated opinions, not facts. All painting frames are sold “as is.” The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions.