|
Women in Native American communities have been producing art intertwined with spirituality, life, and beauty for centuries. According to mixed-media artist, Nadema Agard, "Native American women have always been an integral part of the creative vision, and () continue to contribute to Indian aesthetics independently, in collaboration with other women, and in tandem with Native American men."〔Agard, Nadema. (1999). Artist statement. In P. Farris (Ed.), ''Women artists of color: a bio-critical sourcebook to 20th century artists in the Americas.'' Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group.〕 Women have worked to produce traditional art, passing these crafts down generation by generation, as well as contemporary art in the form of photography, printmaking, and performance art.〔Farris, P. (2005). Contemporary Native American women artists: visual expressions of feminism, the environment, and identity. ''Feminist Studies'', 31(1), 95-109.〕 ==19th century== Edmonia Lewis, an African American-Ojibwe sculptor during the mid-1800s, began her studies at Oberlin College, a college known as the first in the United States to admit African American students. It was there that Lewis changed her Ojibwe name Wildfire due to discrimination and pressure she felt from the community.〔"Noted women sculptor: works of miss Edmonia Lewis adorn homes of British nobility." (April 17, 1909). ''Detroit Informer''〕 She began to study under the guidance of popular sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett after moving to Boston in 1863, and there she created a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the African American 54th Regiment. This work drew great praise from the community, including that from fellow sculptor Harriet Hosmer〔King, W. (2006). ''The essence of liberty: free black women during the slave era''. Missouri: University of Missouri.〕 and the Shaw family, who offered to buy the bust.〔Wolfe, R. (2001). ''Edmonia Lewis: wildfire in marble''. New Jersey: Muse Wood Press.〕 With the payments she received from Shaw's likeness Lewis was able to fund her trip to Rome, Italy in 1865. There she expanded her arts in the neoclassical realm and became the first American woman to seek training in neoclassical sculpture.〔Sherwood, D. (1991). ''Harriet Hosmer, american sculptor, 1830-1908''. Missouri: University of Missouri Press.〕 In Rome, Lewis shared a space, the studio of 18th-century Italian sculptor Antonio Canova,〔 with fellow sculptor Anne Whitney.〔Cleveland-Peck, P. (2007). Casting the first stone. ''History Today'', 57(10), 13-19.〕 Lewis began to carve in marble to avoid accusations some would make of fellow artists that their work was done by studio stone cutters.〔May, S. (1996). The object at hand. ''Smithsonian'', 27(6), 16.〕 She found inspiration in her dual ancestry, the abolitionist fight, and the civil war. Another great inspiration of hers was the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and she sculpted a bust in his honor due to her admiration. As described by Anne Whitney, "Mr L. sat to her & they think it is now quite a creditable performance, better I think than many likenesses of him."〔 Another well-known sculpture of hers, ''Forever Free'', stands in white marble. Inspired by the Emancipation Proclamation,〔African American Registry. ''Edmonia Lewis, an artist with African with Native American roots''. Retrieved from http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/edmonia-lewis-artist-african-and-native-american-roots〕 it depicts a man with his hand raised with a broken chain and shackle. Beside the man is a woman on her knees praying. In 1876, Lewis' work was shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Lewis's epic work, ''The Death of Cleopatra'', was presented for the occasion. In this piece she portrayed the Egyptian queen in a vulnerable state, which was unprecedented for the time. Artist William J. Clark commented at the time: this Cleopatra (...) resembled the real heroine of history (...) Miss Lewis' Cleopatra, like the figures sculpted by Story and Gould, is seated in a chair; the poison of the asp has done its work, and the Queen is dead. The effects of death are represented with such skill as to be absolutely repellent—and it is a question whether a statue of the ghastly characteristics of this one does not overstep the bounds of legitimate art. Apart from all questions of taste, however, the striking qualities of the work are undeniable, and it could only have been reproduced by a sculptor of very genuine endowments.〔Woods, N. (2008). An African queen at the Philadelphia centennial exposition 1876: Edmonia Lewis's the death of Cleopatra. ''Meridians'', 9(1), 62-82.〕 In the late 1800s Angel De Cora (Ho-chunk) was a painter and writer who contributed to art as a Native American who had been assimilated through a policy put forth by President Grant. Her earliest paintings appeared with her own stories, ''The Sick Child'' and ''The Grey Wolf's Daughter'', in ''Harper's Magazine''. In her writing De Cora sought to change attitudes about Native Americans and described situations everyone could relate to. De Cora had a talent with combining a mix of Native American painting style with the mainstream European American style popular at the time, otherwise described as transculturation, and reflected the emotions from her stories in her art. Her success with her stories in ''Harper's'' helped her start a career in illustrating books about Native Americans for children. Though she had other interests in art, she was encouraged by her professors to pursue Native American influenced art because of an erroneous idea that art and ethnicity were linked.〔Hutchinson, E. (2001). Modern Native American art: Angel De Cora's transcultural aesthetics. ''The Art Bulletin'', 83(4), pg. 740-756.〕 Though De Cora flourished as an artist, she was still torn between two identities that were placed on her: one the noble savage, the other a product of successful assimilation, and though ''Harper's'' had published her work, it described her as a "naive (...) Indian girl,"〔As quoted in a ''Harper's'' press release in A Native American literature. (1899, December). ''Red Man'', 15(10),pg. 8.〕 and one of her mentors only had this to say about her: "Unfortunately she was a woman and still more unfortunately an American Indian."〔Curtis, N. (January 20, 1920). An American Indian artist. ''Outlook'', pg. 64-66.〕 In 1900 De Cora was given the opportunity to design the frontispiece for ethnologist Francis LaFlesche's book, ''The Middle Five'', and soon after won a contest to also design the book's cover.〔 On the cover she created her own typography with its own Native American influence and illustrated it with the simplistic style that was popular at the time. Not long after De Cora became a professor of Native Indian Art at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1906 and was invested in building an appreciation for Native American art and history with the idea in mind to bring Native American art into mainstream culture.〔Proulx, A. (June 25, 2005). Saturday review: essay: how the west was spun: the image of the cowboy as a noble pioneer taming a savage land still has a powerful hold. ''The Guardian'', Guardian Saturday Pages, pg. 4.〕 De Cora felt art was central to the economic survival and preservation of Native American culture〔Hutchinson, E. (2009). ''The Indian craze: primitivism, modernism, and transculturation in American art, 1890-1915.'' North Carolina: Duke University Press Books.〕 and encouraged her students to combine their Native American art into modern art to produce marketable items that could be used in home design.〔Peyer, B. (2007). ''American Indian nonfiction: an anthology of writings, 1760s-1930s.'' Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.〕 By doing so, De Cora enabled a trend toward art. She knew Native Americans would eventually leave certain aspects of their culture behind in time, but she also felt art would be one of the things to create a united community and help Native Americans to be proud of their heritage. "He may shed his outer skin, but his markings lie below that and should show up only the brighter," she said of Native Americans during a speech in a 1911 proceeding of the Society of American Indians.〔De Cora, A. (1911). "American Indian Art." (1911). ''Report of the executive council on the proceedings of the society of American Indians''. Washington, DC: Society of American Indians.〕 Though the history of Dat So La Lee is slightly of a mythic quality, what is known of her is her discovery as a washerwoman by Amy and Abe Cohn in 1895, who found her baskets incredibly intriguing. The Cohns began selling her baskets in their shop in 1899 to tourists of Lake Tahoe.〔Moreno, R. (Ed.)(1998). ''The historical Nevada Magazine: outstanding historical features from the pages of Nevada Magazine.'' Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press.〕 Though her basketry was revered, like many Native Americans of the day Dat So La Lee was presented by Amy Cohn as the noble savage through her lectures. "To the whole audience there was no incongruity in having a white woman explain the basket's symbols, while the weaver herself remained silent."〔Cohodas, M. (1998). In R. Moreno (Ed.), ''The historical Nevada Magazine: outstanding historical features from the pages of Nevada Magazine'' (pg. 91). Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press.〕 Further, Dat So La Lee's image was displayed on flyers as a simple-minded, unattractive native who Abe Cohn had to put up with.〔 The Cohns fabricated much of her life for their own advertising purposes. It was Dat So La Lee who created the ''degikup'' style of basket weaving,〔 though Amy Cohn preferred to boast in lectures this was of the native "pre-contamination" past (that is, before European settlers had appeared). During this time much appropriation and romanticization of Native American culture was popular, and this was not necessarily out of place: Amy Cohn would dress in native regalia for her lectures.〔 Eventually, as a ploy to raise the demand for baskets, the Cohns announced that baskets would be made less and less due to Dat So La Lee's oncoming blindness,〔Berlo, J.C. (1992). ''The early years of Native American art history: the politics of scholarship and collecting''. Seattle: University of Washington Press.〕 though a reporter at the time who interviewed Abe Cohn blamed the decrease on alcoholism.〔Van Loan, C.E. (September 16, 1906). ''$1,500 asked for one basket made by Washoe Indian squaw''. Los Angeles Examiner, pg. 5.〕 Whether either of these claims are true is undocumented. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Native American women in the arts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|