Go and See the Indian Museum’s Spectacular Oscar Howe Exhibit

Stop by the National Museum of the American Indian (1 Bowling Green) to see Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe. The free exhibit focuses on more than 40 years of one of the 20th century’s “most innovative painters,” and Howe changed the landscape for Native American artists. 

Hailing from South Dakota, Howe dedicated his career to preserving and expressing Yanktonai Dakota culture, helping to pave the way for other contemporary Native American artists. Notably, he merged a modernist aesthetic painting style with Native culture and storytelling — using a traditional Sioux “straight-line” style based on hide- and ledger-style paintings that he infused with more modernist bright colors and dynamic motions.

Howe has often been compared to Cubist contemporaries, though he himself rejected the label. We stopped by the exhibition and took a peek for ourselves. Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe runs through September 11.