Oscar Howe

Oscar Howe , (in Dakota: "Mazuha Hokshina", "Trader Boy") was an indigenous American artist (born 1915 in Joe Creek on the Crow Creek Reservation , South Dakota ; † 1983 ), who was known for his casein paintings . He was one of the first modern painters of the North American Indians.

Life

Howe was a Yanktonai- Dakota and a descendant of chiefs. Howe first attended the Pierre Indian School in South Dakota, in 1933 he began to study art. He returned from World War II as a veteran.

From 1933 to 1938 he studied at the New Mexico Indian School in Santa Fe with Dorothy Dunn . He earned a masters degree in art from the University of Oklahoma. The first works were influenced by Ledger Art . However, he soon developed his own distinctive style.

In 1941 he was hired by the Works Progress Administration of South Dakota to create a series of murals for the community hall in Mobridge, SD, as well as a mural in the dome of the Carnegie Library in Mitchell, SD between 1948 and 1971 he panels for the so-called [Corn Palace] in Mitchell, a tourist attraction, which consists of a building, the facade of which is completely covered with different colored, dried corncobs, which form mosaics. From 1957 to 1983 he was Professor of Art at the University of South Dakota , (Vermillion, SD)

Howe's bohemian style is based on traditional elements. From this he develops his style, which affects interpreters to almost expressionistic interpretations. The resulting synthesis represents a turning point in the history of Lakota art. Howe opened perspectives for Nakota art that he understands as universal. He sees his interpretation of old motifs as a development from the old painting with curved lines from home in the Forest region and the straight lines as the trunks were driven into the vast prairie. These are its geometric shapes or pictograms.

Typical of this is his painting “The Medicine Man” (“Dakota Medicine Man”, 1968, casein on paper, South Dakota Art Museum), which depicts the energetic atmosphere in an incantation ritual in a modern way - the [energy] is produced by a Web of lightning-like lines visible. Such "lightning lines" belong on the one hand to the traditional motifs (for example in depictions of the mythological thunderbird), on the other hand they appear in Howe in a physically real-looking and yet mythical and abstract way, in a tension between representationalism and symbolism.

Howe was turned down for an exhibition by Native American art in 1958 on the grounds that his works would not meet the criteria of a "traditional Indian style". Howe did not allow the "Sioux" painting to be preserved in a museum status quo. The public began to rethink, and Howe was named Artist Laureate of South Dakota.

Exhibitions

Howe's work has been exhibited in dedicated exhibition spaces at the Oscar Howe Art Gallery at the Dakota Discovery Museum in Mitchell and the Oscar Howe Gallery at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. From April 17, 2007 to February 17, 2008, works by Oscar Howe were on display at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, South Dakota. Most of these works are casein painting, but other techniques such as graphite on paper and stone and bronze sculptures are also available.

Artistic effect

Howe inspired art students, from the circle of the "Howe School" emerged other artists who developed their own style, including Arthur Amiotte . Howe thus gave the impetus to a new dynamic in the indigenous art scene.

The NAASA (= Native American Studies Association) offers the Oscar Howe Prize, a prize made possible by the Oscar Howe Memorial Association of the University of South Dakota, and which is primarily intended for students who are writing a paper on a NAASA conference Present "Northern Plains Indian art".

In a chapel in Chamberlain , South Dakota, there is a crucifixion motif painted by Howe. An elementary school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota was named after Oscar Howe.

literature

• Dunn, Dorothy: Oscar Howe: Sioux Artist. El Palacio. 64, nos. 5-6 (May-June 1957): 167-173.
• Howe, Oscar: Theories and Beliefs - Dakota. South Dakota Review. 2, no.2, 1969.
• Huseboe, Arthur R .: An Illustrated History of the Arts in South Dakota, with a section on Sioux Indian arts by Arthur Amiotte. Sioux Falls, SD, 1989
• Netzel, Rebecca: Lakota Lexicon regional studies. Trier 2008
• White, Mark Andrew: Oscar Howe and the Transformation of Native American Art. In: American Indian Art Magazine. 23, no. 1 Winter 1997, 36-43.