Courtesy of The St. Louis Art Museum
A pair of dolls made by an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) artist around 1900, on display in Woodlands: Native American Art from St. Louis Collections now through April 24.
The St. Louis Art Museum's upper level is home to scores of art objects originally created by indigenous peoples from across the West and Great Plains, hundreds of which were donated by Carolyn Danforth on behalf of her husband, Donald Danforth Jr.
But now a previously less explored area of indigenous history is being highlighted in Gallery 100, where Woodlands: Native American Art from St. Louis Collections is on display now through April 24, 2022.
Gathered from local collectors and regional arts organizations, the items on display in Woodlands all originated in the cultural region of North America that stretches from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast, and from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
"This exhibition is really a survey of historical Woodlands art," says Alexander Brier Marr, SLAM's Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Native American Art. "I want people to come and see for themselves the breadth of historical material, styles, and motifs made by Eastern Native North American artists since the early 19th century."
Marr, who curated the exhibition, notes that this survey covers 19th-century works extensively, but also stretches as far back as the late 18th century and includes a work by Norval Morrisseau, who inspired a generation of First Nations artists and founded the Woodlands school of art in Canada in the latter half of the 20th century. The work by Morrisseau, "Untitled (Bear)," is one of seven recently donated works that expanded SLAM's collection of indigenous works from the Woodlands cultural region. SLAM has been displaying Western Native American Art since 1906 and collecting it since 1920, but it has acquired relatively few objects from the Woodlands region over that period.
"It's the smallest area in our collection [of Native American art,]" says Marr. "We have about 900 works, all told, from ancient to contemporary, and for Eastern art, I think there were about two dozen works in the collection. It's a really small portion compared to the Southwest. So the limited size of the collection means that we haven't really displayed Woodlands art before."
In addition to the gifted pieces, which were donated by Bob and Donna Mills and Donald A.Herbst and Danielle Foster-Herbst, Marr worked with private collectors and other arts institutions to gather objects ranging from dolls to clothing items and embroidered bags made as souvenirs.
"It's been such a pleasure to work with other institutions and private collectors," says Marr. "Everyone has been very generous and excited about the project, and even I was surprised to see the breadth and strength Woodlands work in St. Louis."
Woodlands: Native American Art from St. Louis Collections is a free exhibition in Gallery 100 at the St. Louis Art Museum. It runs until April 24, 2022.
