Combining extraordinary technical skills acquired in Jean-Léon Gérôme’s studio in Paris with firsthand experience living among the Arapahoe, Shoshone, and Crow in Wyoming and Montana, George de Forest Brush (1854/1855–1941) created an important series of paintings of American Indians much celebrated by his contemporaries but rarely seen since. Completed during the 1880s, many of these works were quickly acquired by major American collectors and have remained in private hands through several generations. Of the twenty featured in this exhibition, several have only recently come to light. These stunningly beautiful paintings are studio compositions: complex meditations on the advent of modernism in which the Indian serves as metaphor. The accompanying catalogue, incorporating new research, is the first scholarly study of this series.
Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Seattle Art Museum.
Schedule: National Gallery of Art, September 14, 2008–January 4, 2009; Seattle Art Museum, February 26–May 24, 2009
Passes: Passes are not required for this exhibition.
The exhibition will be on view in the East Building, Ground Floor