“It is my greatest hope that my paintings may serve to bring the best things of Indian culture into the modern way of life.”
—Oscar Howe, 1970
In 1958, he submitted “Umine Wacipi” (“War and Peace
Dance”), in which abstract shapes represent drumbeats, to Philbrook Art Center (now Philbrook Museum of Art) for its “Indian Annual” painting exhibition—one of the foremost jur- ied shows of Native American art during the 20th century. When his work was rejected because the competition’s judges deemed it “not Indian,” Howe responded with an impassioned letter that asserted a bold defense of individual artistic free- dom. He wrote, “Are we to be held back forever with one phase of Indian painting, that is the most common way? We are to be herded like a bunch of sheep, with no right for individualism, dictated [to] as the Indian has always been . . . . Well, I am not going to stand for it.” Howe was confident in the authenticity of his work. He
saw no contradiction between the image-making of his ances- tors and his own artistic expressions of Očhéthi Šakówiŋ life. Instead of adhering to outdated expectations, Howe insisted the mainstream art world should change how it examined and categorized American Indian art. His letter was a catalyst for a sea change that would provide greater artistic freedom to future generations of Native artists. In addition to painting his own works, Howe taught art
from the 1940s through the 1970s. First hired to teach at Dakota Wesleyan University while he earned his bachelor’s degree, Howe then instructed students at Pierre’s public high
34 SPRING 2022 AMERICAN INDIAN
Oscar Howe, seated in front of a selection of his paintings at South Dakota State University on March 30, 1958.
school in the 1950s. In 1957, he joined the art faculty at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion, where he taught until 1979. While at USD, Howe established a summer art program that continues today as the Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute (OHSAI). He influenced generations of young Native artists who previously had no Indige- nous role model in their field. Contem- porary artist Keith BraveHeart (Lakota) reflects, “The OHSAI program is a signif- icant element of Howe’s legacy, and his foresight and compassion for the next generation of tribal artists (especially amongst the Northern Plains region), provides a further example of greatness and heart.” According to Kathleen Ash-Milby,
curator of the “Dakota Modern” exhi- bition and Native American Art at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, this is the moment to put Howe’s legacy in perspective. Radical changes in the rec- ognition of contemporary Native Amer- ican art during the past 25 years have created an environment in which schol- ars can now examine artists who were active in the 20th century and appreci- ate their innovations without the his- torical baggage and tired stereotypes about Native art that plagued previous generations. “Oscar Howe was truly an artist ahead of his time,” asserted Ash-Milby. “It’s unfortunate that the art world was not ready or willing to understand that his work could be both Dakota and modern. His innovation was instead dismissed as derivative. We are finally ready to look at his work with new eyes and appreciation.”
alexandra n. harris is a senior editor at the National Museum of the American Indian and the project editor for the exhibition and book “Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe.”
LEFT: OSCAR HOWE PAPERS, RICHARDSON COLLECTION, ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA; COURTESY OF THE NMAI AND OSCAR HOWE FAMILY.
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