On February 27, the Saint Louis Art Museum opens its second exhibit of Plains Indians artifacts from the Danforth Collection (the first exhibit, which ran through August of last year, focused on beadwork). Here's a wee squib describing the show:
"Distinctive moccasins, cradleboards, clothing, pipe bags, parfleches and objects of adornment and utility represent high artistic achievement and the practical and sacred relationships that exist between Plains people and their environment. This collection presents a visual account of the traditional lifeways of an extraordinary culture, as well as the finely-honed vision of an astute collector. As a major force in collecting American Indian art, Donald Danforth Jr. focused on Northern and Southern Plains art from 1850–1890, when Native Americans were adapting their former nomadic lifestyles to the confines of reservations. Danforth realized the value of preserving these traditions for future generations and developed a collection of more than 300 objects."
As an accidental Cassandra (as opposed to professional Cassandras like poor ol' Peter Schiff) I'm going to speculate that museums will gravitate more and more towards exhibits of this type. There's less of a risk in offering crowd-pleasing material culture exhibits, which combine the universal -- all feet need to be shod -- with the thrillingly exotic. SLAM's big Ming Dynasty exhibit, which opens this weekend, and Saint Louis University Museum of Art's Russian Dynasty exhibit, have a similar appeal (though sadly, the Ming exhibit also reminds us how beautifully and well art can flourish during stable economic eras). While there are arguments going on right now about whether the current downturn will result in artists cleverly pandering to the plebes in order to eat, or using the extreme conditions to forge comething new and amazing, these sorts of shows seem to be a nice golden mean between the two. And who can blame anyone at a time like this for hungering for beautifully crafted objects which map out how to connect one's mundane day-to-day existence to something larger? --Stefene Russell
