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Distributed for Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago

Transforming Images

The Art of Silver Horn and His Successors

Silver Horn’s lifespan (1860-1940) placed him in the midst of extreme cultural transformations: by the time of his death, highways, silos, and gas stations dominated the land that had, at his birth, been the domain of buffalo herds and Plains Indians. Silver Horn’s art documents these massive changes in the lives of the Kiowa Indians, as well as changes in Kiowa art itself: from the traditional hide paintings, themes of warfare, and two-dimensional perspectives, Silver Horn progressed through ledger drawings, scenes of domesticity, and experiments with more naturalistic styles. The bridge he created between ancient Kiowa aesthetics and modern forms of expression had dramatic impact, serving as models for younger Native American artists such as he Kiowa Five of the 1930s, and influencing contemporary artists such as Sharron Ahtone Jarjo, T.C. Cannon, and Sherman Chaddlesone.

Works by each of these artists appeared at the Alfred Smart Museum of Art for Transforming Images, the first comprehensive exhibition of Silver Horn’s work to date. This volume, richly illustrated with 75 color plates and 15 black and white photographs, collects art and commentary from the exhibit.

216 pages | 75 color plates, 15 black and white photographs | 9-3/4 x 12 | © 2001

Art: American Art

History: American History


Table of Contents

Foreword and Acknowledgments
Kimerly Rorschach
Preface
Robert G. Donnelley
ESSAYS
Changing Times, Changing Views: Silver Horn as a Bridge to Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Kiowa Art
Candace S. Greene
Artists, Ethnographers, and Historians: Plains Indian Graphic Arts in the Nineteenth Century - and Beyond
Janet Catherine Berlo
Transforming Images of Resistance: The Art of Silver Horn and Later Kiowa Artists
Robert G. Donnelley
CATALOGUE
Introduction
The Tradition of Plains Indian Drawing
The Fort Marion Exile, A Period of Change
Silver Horn and The Reservation and Allotment Periods
Silver Horn’s Legacy: The Kiowa Five and Beyond
Selected Bibliography

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