“Legacy and Legend:Images of Indians from Four Centuries “

In recognition of the 400th anniversary of the meeting of European and Native American peoples, a new exhibition at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens will look at how North American Indians have been depicted in art, primarily from the 1500s through the 1800s.

The exhibition, “Legacy and Legend: Images of Indians from Four Centuries,” runs from June 9 to Sept. 2, in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery.

“For centuries European-trained artists created art for audiences that knew little about Indians, and so their images often romanticized them and focused on the more dramatic,” says guest curator Kathryn Hight. As artists capitalized on new printing technologies and a growing demand for prints and illustrated books, they worked to make their pieces marketable by depicting the more colorful aspects of Indian culture: unusual clothing and adornment, ritual ceremonies, and dangerous activities such as buffalo hunting. “This selective view created a skewed interpretation of Indian life that has shaped the public’s understanding of Native American culture,” Hight says. “As artists and craftsmen struggled to interpret what they had seen and learned into forms acceptable to non-Indian markets, they grafted the new images onto the traditions with which they and their audiences were familiar. Their interpretations inevitably distorted perceptions of Indian life, resulting in early forms of docudrama. An American visual epic was being made.”

In the 19th century, artists like Catlin and Edward Curtis saw their work as preserving cultures in decline. “Their work often shows Indians dressed from past eras in settings created by the artist’s imagination,” says Hight. While artists depicted Indian life as immutable, by the early part of the 20th century Indian life had changed markedly, adapting in the wake of European settlement. “It was a much more complicated picture than many artists were willing to portray,” says Hight. “While the show does depict a great variety of Indian images, the fact is only a few transcended time, and those are what dominate our consciousness even today.”

The exhibition will feature rare material drawn almost entirely from The Huntington’s collections, including what is believed to be the first image depicting Indians in a woodcut that accompanied an account of Columbus’ western hemisphere landing, published in 1495. Also on view will be the first lithograph of an Indian by Swiss artist Peter Rindisbacher; stunning portraits published by Thomas McKenny and James Hall in their History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-44); and aquatints by Karl Bodmer, often considered to be the best Indian artist of his time, from Reise in das innere Nord-America [Travels in the interior of North America] (1839-41) by naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied. In addition, a large selection of photographs by Carl Moon and Edward Curtis will be on display.

The show will examine two popular legends, that of Red Jacket, the most famous Indian orator of the 19th century,and of Pocahontas (comparing the folklore surrounding her with what actually took place).

Selected objects from the Autry National Center will also be included.

This exhibition is possible in part through a grant from the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation..