Wah-Hoom, 1967
Frank Day
Konkow Maidu, 1902–1976, Oil on canvas, Gift of the Aeschliman McGreal Collection, Crocker Art Museum, 2017.62.1 (Photo by Jesse A. Bravo)
Native Americans have passed important teachings from one generation to the next; with each generation contributing in their own unique way. Historically this knowledge was passed through storytelling and addressed all aspects of life: ceremonies, sustenance, technology, and origins of the world around them. These stories also referenced leadership and human qualities.
In the 1960s and 70s, many Native artists residing in California made a concerted effort to record these stories in their work. By adapting and personalizing these rich traditional stories, they contributed to the transference of knowledge while also bringing them to life visually.
Aalam, Undated
Dugan Aguilar
Northern Paiute/Maidu/Pit River (Achomawi), 1947–2018, Gelatin silver print, Courtesy of Dugan and Elizabeth Aguilar
Aalam is an unusual rocky outcropping found near Grass Valley in Nevada County, California. It is also the site of a Native animal story in which two deer escape a bear by jumping on top of this unusually tall rock. The marks on the sides of the rock represent scratches from the bear’s claws. This story was also the inspiration for a painting by Nisenan artist Dalbert Castro, another artist featured in this exhibition.
Dugan Aguilar made thousands of photographic portraits of California Indian people that document both cultural revival and contemporary Native lives. He often donated these works back to the community.
Tuolumne Roundhouse. 1993
Northern Paiute/Maidu/Pit River (Achomawi), 1947–2018, Gelatin silver print, Courtesy of Dugan and Elizabeth Aguilar
Sky People, Circa 2015
Karen Noble
Chimariko/Karuk, Born 1955, Acrylic on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
For several decades, Karen Noble has drawn inspiration from traditional stories specific to Northwestern California Indians about the Sky People, who share the same foibles as humans. Initially her paintings were figurative, but her more recent work is abstract. This image, drawn from the Hubble Space Telescope photographs, includes the Horsehead Nebula, which Noble uses to suggest a figure striding through outer space.
Untitled (Deer Dancer), Undated
Nomtipom Wintu, 1937–2019, Acrylic on canvas, Collection of Marcy Friedman, Courtesy of the Frank LaPena Trust
Deer dancers are integral to a number of American Indian cultures, including Southwest groups like the Yaqui and several Pueblo cultures. In this painting, the male performer has a deer skull, indicating that the spirits of the deer and the dancer have become one. LaPena was central to the revival of the ceremonial cultures of several California Indian tribes from the central and northern regions of the state.
A Gift From California, Circa 1979
Nisenan Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese, 1946–2006, Acrylic on canvas, Museum Purchase, Autry Museum of the American West, 2016.10.9
In this painting, two women hold baskets filled with acorns, one of the primary sources of sustenance for California Indians. Acorns are extremely nutritious, containing valuable fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins A and C, and many amino acids. Acorn preparation is time consuming and includes grinding the acorns into flour and leaching out the tannic acid. Acorn soup is traditionally prepared by women who mix the meal with water in baskets, which are heated with hot rocks from the fire.
The vertical stripes covering the women’s faces are a likely reference to the Aki ceremony of the Mechoopda Maidu. The green color was created by mixing acorn meats and their oil with the mildew or mold from old acorns.
Maidu Spirit as Bear, 1978
Nisenan, Born 1934, Acrylic on canvas, Gift of the Aeschliman-McGreal Collection, Crocker Art Museum, 2017.62.8 (Photo by Josh Tousey)
“You see, that’s the way with us. We have these old stories that explain our past, our land, and our ways. This is our history.”
—Dalbert Castro, 1988
Wah-Hoom, 1967
Frank Day
Konkow Maidu, 1902–1976, Oil on canvas, Gift of the Aeschliman McGreal Collection, Crocker Art Museum, 2017.62.1 (Photo by Jesse A. Bravo)
Cycle of Life, Circa 1965
Konkow Maidu, 1902–1976, Oil on board, Gift of the Aeschliman McGreal Collection, Crocker Art Museum, 2017.62.5
A Maidu elder, Frank Day was the first artist to record stories and ceremonies of his tribe with paint and canvas. He once said, I am not a doctor, I am not a soothsayer, I am not a shaman, I am not a spiritual man, I am not a medicine man. I am just an ordinary man. . . . Once in a while I take up color and paint a little bit, because if I do not do this all things will be forgotten.
In this work, Day illustrates the interconnectedness of the natural world. The fallen log provides a rich source of nutrients for mushrooms, which in turn provide nourishment for the man who gathers them. Ants crawling on the pile of sawdust in the lower left corner demonstrate that the fallen log is also important to the life cycle. Day was a key figure in the California Indian art movement that gained momentum in the late 1960s.
Ishi and Companion at Iamin Mool, Circa 1973
Frank Day
Konkow Maidu, 1902–1976, Oil on canvas, Collection of Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians (Photo by Jesse A. Bravo)
A small child when most of his Yahi tribe was killed during an 1865 massacre, Ishi’s life began with the decimation of his people and ended with his mistreatment as a living specimen. After decades living in the mountains, hunger drove him to forage in the foothills near Oroville in 1911. He soon drew the attention of scientists and was studied extensively at the University of California Anthropology Museum until his death six years later.
The artist said that when he was nine years old, he encountered Ishi shortly before his first appearance in public. Day observed Ishi, shown kneeling, as he doctored a companion with a stomach wound. This painting documents that story.
Nomadic Mnidos, 2016
Rabbett Strickland
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Born 1949, Oil on canvas, Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D., Crocker Art Museum, 2017.65 (Photo by Jesse A. Bravo)
This painting references traditional Ojibwe stories that feature figures like Mnido, the Great Spirit, and the trickster Nanabozho, or Great Hare, son of the West Wind, who was raised by his grandmother, Nokomis. Several of the figures are shown riding giant turtles. In Ojibwe stories, the back of a turtle provided a place for rebuilding after a great flood, which is why the Earth is known as Turtle Island among some tribes.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Rabbett Strickland is known for his monumental paintings of Ojibwe creation stories. His techniques and figurative compositions are, in part, inspired by the work of Renaissance artists such as Sandro Botticelli.
American Dream Machine, 2005
Harry Fonseca
Nisenan Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese, 1946–2006, Mixed media on canvas, Museum purchase, Autry Museum of the American West, 2016.10.1
American Dream Machine features Coyote jumping for joy in front of a slot machine amid a shower of gold coins. Colorful, energetic, and playful on the surface, the painting has several layers of symbolism. For example, the “jackpot” represents the profits of Native-owned casinos flowing into historically impoverished communities as a source of new economic and political clout. However, the fake coins glued to the surface of the canvas appear to reference the illusory nature of “fool’s gold” and the devastating impact of gold rush–era greed and violence on California’s Native communities. As a get-rich-quick scheme with genocidal implications, American Dream Machine questions American conquest and capitalism while acknowledging the evolving role of these same forces in Native society, especially the use of gaming revenue, to reclaim political power and sovereign status.
Fire III (Rain of Fire Coming, Last One Standing), 2004
Rick Bartow
Wiyot, Mad River Band, 1946–2016, Pastel; gouache; tempera; aqueous media; graphite on paper, Gift of the Rick Bartow Estate and Froelick Gallery, Crocker Art Museum, 2017.17.2 (Photo by Jesse A. Bravo)
“I cannot explain the urge to create. I usually apologize for it as it robs me of normalcy. I’m uncomfortable with it, as it’s a bit like living in front of a mirror.”
—Rick Bartow
In My Room, 2011
Paómkawichum (Luiseño)/Ipi (Diegueño)/Mexican American, 1950–2018, Video installation; 2 min 21 sec; looped, Courtesy of the Estate of James Luna and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York
This video work recreates a cleansing sweat lodge ceremony using a tent instead of a traditional sweathouse. A “fake fire lamp” suggests the glow of coals. The video’s soundtrack appropriates the title of a famous song released by the Beach Boys in 1963, reminding us that the artist grew up in Southern California. James Luna is among the most renowned of California’s American Indian artists and is best known for his performance works that stage aspects of traditional culture within contemporary settings. He states, “This ‘two world’ concept once posed too much ambiguity for me, as I felt torn as to who I was. In maturity I have come to find it the source of my power.”
When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California was organized by the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, with support from the United Auburn Indian Community. This presentation at the Autry has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Autry Museum of the American West acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). We recognize that the Autry Museum and its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Gabrielino/Tongva peoples and we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.
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