Indians June 9, 2010

From the beginning, art of the American West has centered around Indians. The presence of Native Americans in the West drew the earliest artists into its magnificent forests, plains, mountains, and deserts. Through the centuries of American experience in the West, American Indians have been the subjects of white perceptions of the West. At the same time, Native American artists have produced a rich and splendid variety of works that reflect their own views of Indians, their cultures, and their land. Native American artists and indeed all Indians are reclaiming their lives in a West that reflects our widely diverse American culture.