From just after WWII until the late 1970s, the Indian Annual exhibition at Tulsa's Philbrook Museum of Art served as a vital outlet -- and a nationally recognized showcase -- for Native American fine art. This juried competition and sale attracted artists, collectors, and curators from across the country for more than three decades. It also helped build the collections of institutions like Philbrook, the Heard Museum (AZ), and the Museum of the American Indian (NY), all of which consistently purchased award-winning pieces at this show. The Indian Annual therefore played a crucial role in the development of twentieth-century Native American fine art, perhaps especially in the area of painting, and there's a new exhibition at Philbrook -- the first of its kind -- that focuses on the Annual's history, influence, and development. "Impact: The Philbrook Indian Annual" opened earlier this month, and it will be on view through January 11, 2015. It includes work by such noted artists as Oscar Howe, Allan Houser, Dick West, and Ruthe Blalock Jones -- among many others. Our guest on ST is the curator for this far-reaching show, Christina E. Burke, who is Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art at Philbrook. (More about "Impact" can be found here.)
A Variety of Exemplary Native American Art Comprises "Impact: The Philbrook Indian Annual"
