Native North American (First Nations)

Umbrella term for the cultures and styles belonging to Indigenous peoples of what is now the United States and Canada.

Dates

before 11,200 B.C.E.–today

Places

North America > Canada, United States

Basics Works of Art Artists Periods, Cultures, Styles Curated Guides

Native North American (First Nations)

Umbrella term for the cultures and styles belonging to Indigenous peoples of what is now the United States and Canada.

Dates

before 11,200 B.C.E.–today

Places

North America > Canada, United States

Basics Works of Art Artists Periods, Cultures, Styles Curated Guides

Basics to get you started

About geography and chronological periods in Native American art

Terms and issues in Native American art

Contemporary Native American architecture

Glossary for pre-Columbian art

Cultural heritage at risk: United States

Northwest Coast basketry—woven traditions

Pueblo architecture and its relationship to place

Introduction to Mogollon

Postcommodity arts collective

Works of Art

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Leaving My Reservation to Go to Ottawa and Fight for a New Constitution

1985

Billy “War Soldier” Soza, The Wind Only I Am Afraid Of

1969

Rita Letendre, Menace (Ramat Gan)

1963

Lloyd Kiva New, Untitled (Landscape)

c. 1980

Jeffrey Gibson, Be Witched Bothered and Be Wildered

2019

Fritz Scholder, Indian Rug #5

1972

Virgil Ortiz, Aeronauts, Steu and Cuda

2014

2014

Anita Fields, Elements of Being

1997

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Artists

Courtney Leonard’s ARTIFICE Ellipse | Log: 18-3, coiled micaceous clay with glaze, 5 3/8 x 15 x 7 inches (Newark Museum of Art) © Courtney M. Leonard

Courtney Leonard’s ARTIFICE Ellipse | Log: 18-3, coiled micaceous clay with glaze, 5 3/8 x 15 x 7 inches (Newark Museum of Art) © Courtney M. Leonard

Rebecca Belmore

Ruthe Blalock Jones

Brummett Echohawk

Nellie Two Bear Gates

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Periods, Cultures, Styles

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Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Leaving My Reservation to Go to Ottawa and Fight for a New Constitution, 1985, acrylic on canvas, 246.4 x 169.55 cm (Art Bridges Foundation) © Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Plateau Native American

to today

Attributed to Cotsiogo, Hide painting of the Sun Dance, c. 1890–1900 (Eastern Shoshone), elk hide and pigment, 205.7 x 198.1 cm (Brooklyn Museum)

Great Basin Native American

to today

Shoulder Bag, 1840–50 (Delaware, Lenni Lenape), cotton, wool, silk, glass beads, tinned iron, brass, bone, 29 1/2 inches high (Newark Museum of Art, Purchase 2017 Mr. and Mrs. William V. Griffin Fund 2017.10)

Eastern Woodland Native American

to today

Juana Basilia Sitmelelene, Coin (Presentation) Basket, Chumash, Mission San Buenaventura, c. 1815-22, sumac, juncus textilis, mud dye, 9 x 48 cm (National Museum of the American Indian)

Californian Native American

to today

Clovis Spear Point, c. 11,000 B.C.E., flint, 2.98 x 8.5 x 0.7 cm, found Arizona © Trustees of the British Museum

Clovis

c. 11,200–10,900 B.C.E.

View of Cliff Palace structures, Mesa Verde (photo: steeleman204, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Southwestern Native American

to today

Yup'ik mask, c. 1910 (Good News Bay, Alaska), driftwood, baleen, feathers, paint, cotton twine, 49 x 39 cm (National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.)

Arctic Native American

to today

Quilled war shirt (back), c. 1800-1820. Native tanned hide, porcupine quills, red trade cloth, dyes, and sinew. 34 x 43 in. (Denver Art Museum)

Plains Native American

to today

Dorica Jackson, Diving Whale Chilkat Robe, 2002–18, design from The Basketry of the Tlingit and the Chilkat Blanket by George Emmons, Merino wool and yellow cedar bark (Totem Heritage Center, Ketchikan, Alaska)

Northwest Coast Native American

Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee), Sealed Fate: Treaty of New Echota Protest Basket, 2010, Arches watercolor paper and computer printer ink (Epson Ultrachrome inks), 55.9 cm x 33 cm, 27.9 cm high (Gilcrease Museum)

Southeastern Native North American

Anishinaabe outfit, c. 1790, collected by Lieutenant Andrew Foster, Fort Michilimackinac (British), Michigan, Birchbark, cotton, linen, wool, feathers, silk, silver brooches, porcupine quills, horsehair, hide, sinew; the moccasins were likely made by the Huron–Wendat people (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution)

Great Lakes and Central Woodland Native American

Quilled war shirt (front), c. 1800-1820. Native tanned hide, porcupine and possibly bird quills, plant material, red trade cloth, dyes, and sinew. 34 x 43 inches (Denver Art Museum)

Native American Colonial period

c. 1598–1830

Shoulder Bag, 1840–50 (Delaware, Lenni Lenape), cotton, wool, silk, glass beads, tinned iron, brass, bone, 29 1/2 inches high (Newark Museum of Art, Purchase 2017 Mr. and Mrs. William V. Griffin Fund 2017.10)

Native American Removal period

c. 1830–49

John N. Choate, Tom Torlino [version #3], 1885 (Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center)

Native American Reservation period

c. 1849–87

Stephen Mopope, Game of Skill, 1933, oil on canvas, 57.2 x 122.6 cm (Gilcrease Museum)

Native American Allotment and Assimilation period

c. 1887–1934

Stephen Mopope, 14. Buffalo Hunting Scene, 1937, mural, west wall of the Anadarko Post Office, OK (photo: USPS*)

Native American Reorganization period

c. 1934–53

Norval Morrisseau, Earth Mother with Her Children, 1967 (Canadian Centre for Architecture / Gift of May Cutler)

Native American Termination period

c. 1953–75

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, State Names, 2000, oil, collage, and mixed media on canvas, 121.9 x 182.9 cm (Smithsonian American Art Museum, ©Jaune Quick-To-See Smith)

Native American Self-determination period

c. 1975–2001

Richard Mayhew, Indigenous Spiritual Space (Ser. No. 7), 1993–94, oil on canvas, 84.5 × 94.6 cm (Georgia Museum of Art, Athens) © Richard Mayhew

Native American Sovereignty period

c. 2001–today

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Curated Guides to Native North American (First Nations)

All Textbook Chapters Thematic Series

Textbook Chapter

Art in American Colonies and the United States, c. 1700–1865

Textbook Chapter

Modern Art, Colonialism, Primitivism, and Indigenism: 1830–1950

Textbook Chapter

Northern Northwest Coast Art

Thematic Series

Seeing America