Roaming through the Autry Museum

On Wednesday January 7th, 2015, I roamed through the Autry Museum to enjoy some of the permanent collection and also to see a visiting exhibition "Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork."  The exhibit showed the various styles of the Native Americans and how the styles changed as the natives were forced to move west and into reservations that mixed several tribes.  The bead work changed with the advent of the glass beads and styles preferred by Europeans who purchased many of the items.  As the natives lost their land and livelihood, they took to making items to sell to the white folks.

Here are photos of some of the items on display:

Lakota Boots, 1860's-1890's

Ojibwe Dance Apron, 1885

Pipe Bag, Potawatomi, 1860

Vest, Eastern Sioux, 1870's

Wasco Bag, 1860's-1870's

I then roamed through the permanent collection and found some of my old favorites and items I had not seen before.  Here they are:

"Red Branch," 2007 by Deborah Butterfield, born U.S. 1949
I have seen several of the horse sculpture by this artist.  This one was made of Manzanita wood which she gathered from the ground.  It was then photographed, disassembled and sent in pieces to the foundry.  Each branch was cast in bronze, soldered back together and then finished with a patina designed to look like the rich red color of a Manzanita tree.  The description states that the artist drew from the landscape to evoke the elegant lines of a horse's body...alludes to the animal's quiet strength and close relationship to the natural environment.

"Indian Dancers With Masks," 1918 by Jan Matulka, W.S., born in Austria Hungary, 1890-1972
This painting was made by the artist who traveled to Arizona in 1917 and observed the dance rituals of the Hopi and Zuni people.

"Hopi Snake Dance" by Frank G. Applegate, U.S. 1881-1831
This dance is described as an elaborate prayer for rain.

"Passed Over," 1995 by John Valadez, U.S. born 1951.  According to the artist, "Passed Over" was designed to speak to the emerging border violence at that time.

"Los Penitentes," undated by Willard Nash, U.S. 1898-1943

"Tears of the Lord," 2005 by Paul Pletka, U.S. born 1946
The figure of Christ is shown nailed to an Aztec cross with a group of Mexican people in traditional and contemporary dress at his feet.  The description goes on to say that their disregard for the image of suffering suggests the ambivalence that European beliefs are sometimes met with Native societies.

"Crucifix," 1980 by Jose Benjamin Lopez, U.S. 1947 from New Mexico.

"Illinois Flatscape #61" 1997 by Harold Gregor U.S. Born 1929

"Quonset (Rain in August), 2002 by Keith Jacobshagen, U.S. born 1941

"Cottonwood Tree," 1945 by Georgia O'Keeffe, U.S. 1887-1986

"Leader of the Badlands Bunch" 1913 by William Robinson Leigh, U.S. 1865-1955

"Christian and Francisco," 2013 by John Sonsini, U.S. born 1950.  This painting is one of a series Los Vaqueros, portraits of Hispanic immigrants from the artist's midtown Los Angeles neighborhood.  "Day laborers who congregate throughout the city in search of work, their cowboy dress refers to the ranches and farms of their homeland.  Although they are now city dwellers, many immigrant workers still identify with this part of their personal history."

"New Mexico Peon (originally Taos Plasterer)," 1930-1942 by Ernest Blumenschein, U.S. 1874-1960.  This artist was a founder of the Taos Society of Artists in 1915 to promote Taos as an art district in rural undeveloped New Mexico.  This led to Taos becoming a tourist destination that changed the lives of the natives like this one, Epimenio Tenorio who sold his house to the artist in 1919, working thereafter as his handyman and occasional model.

"Hunting Wild Horses" 1846 by William Tylee Ranney, U.S. 1813-1957.

"Only Alkali Water," 1906 by Frederic Remington, U.S. 1861-1909

"The Future" 1985 by Allan Houser, Chiricahua Apache, 1914-1994

"Sacred Rain Arrow," 1988 cast 1991  by Allan Houser
These last two sculpture are my favorites in the museum and you can see them in the background of one another across the central atrium of the museum.