Major exhibition on Plains Indians opens at Nelson-Atkins

Tipis on the lawn of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Photo credit: Kalie Hudson

Tipis on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum and other places around Kansas City signal the opening of the big Plains Indian show.

The exhibition features works of the Plains Indians from before contact with Europeans to the present day. It opens Sept. 19.

The show was recently on display in Paris, where it was extremely popular, according to Nelson-Atkins CEO and Director Julián Zugazagoitia. It was seen there by 200,000 visitors. After it leaves Kansas City, the exhibition will go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Here’s more from the Nelson-Atkins:

Man’s Shirt, Oglala Lakota (Teton Sioux) artists, South Dakota, 1865. Native tanned leather, pigment, human hair, horsehair, glass beads, porcupine quills, 58 x 42 ½ inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Adolf Spohr Collection, Gift of Larry Sheerin, NA.202.598.

The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky brings together Plains Indian masterworks, from pre-contact to contemporary, ranging from a 2,000-year-old Human Effigy stone pipe to 18th-century painted robes to a 2014 beaded adaptation of designer shoes. Works of art collected centuries ago by French traders and travelers will be seen together with those acquired by Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition of 1804-06, along with objects from the early reservation era and contemporary works based in traditional forms and ideas. Many of the objects will be seen in the U.S. for the first time.

The opening of the exhibition will be honored by Native American tribal leaders giving private and public blessings, a public celebration with dancers and drummers and programming through the run of the exhibition, which closes Jan. 11, 2015.

The distinct Plains aesthetic will be revealed through an array of forms and media: painting and drawing; sculptural works in stone, wood, antler and shell; porcupine quill and glass bead embroidery; feather work; painted robes depicting figures and geometric shapes; richly ornamented clothing; composite works; and ceremonial objects.

Jamie Okuma, b. 1977, Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock, California. Horseshoes, 2014. Commercial shoes, glass and 24k gold beads, 30 ½ x 20 ¼ x 7 5/8 inches. Collection of Ellen and Bill Taubman, AI.1403.001, Photo: Cameron Linton.

Many Nations are represented ­– Osage, Quapaw, Omaha, Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, Blackfeet, Pawnee, Kiowa, Comanche, Mesquakie, Kansa and others. Objects will travel from France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

“This exhibition is a beautiful way to pass our Native American culture, tradition and language on to our young children,” said Manny King, Student Development and Activities Coordinator at Haskell University. “I was very impressed when I saw the beautiful tipis on the lawn at the Nelson-Atkins–it touched my heart. I would encourage everyone to come and enjoy this exhibition and feel the energy and spirit of the Plains Indians.”