Dallas, TX – January 31, 2023 – The Dallas Museum of Art kicked off the new year with the unveiling of newly refreshed Indigenous American Art galleries and the launch of The Arts of the Ancient Americas catalogue, edited by the Ellen and Harry S. Parker III Assistant Curator of Indigenous American Art, Dr. Michelle Rich.
A longstanding priority for the Museum, the gallery refresh presents a selection of nearly 400 objects from the DMA’s Indigenous Americas collecting area that crosscut and highlight multifaceted artistic practices, as well as Indigenous and Latin American identities. The Dallas Museum of Art’s Indigenous American art collection extends from Alaska to the Andes, representing nearly 150 cultures and artistic traditions, 4,500 artworks and a timespan of approximately 4,500 years.
Informed by work with community advisors, the refresh reflects a dedicated effort to present the artworks in a space as vibrant as the communities from which they originate.
Beginning in January 2020, Dr. Rich began a community consultation effort to ensure the Dallas Museum of Art presented galleries that were accessible, inclusive, and incorporated vital culturally specific considerations. Initial listening sessions with over 40 community members transformed into a long-term Working Group that helped inform what visitors experience today. The galleries have been enlivened with maps, a bright and colorful atmosphere, bilingual texts, and opportunities to interact with the content presented. Visitors can expect to see familiar artworks as well as new surprises and experience a more thoughtful approach to how we prompt guests to contemplate the artistic practices of Indigenous cultures across the Americas.
“We worked hard to remove old tropes about Indigenous peoples and cultures, and their artistic practices,” said Rich. “For example, the idea that Indigenous peoples are mysterious or that they are lost is absolutely not true.”
Overall, the project resulted in dramatic changes including a re-envisioned Atrium Overlook and a fresh look in the Hoblitzelle Gallery. The Hoblitzelle Gallery was co-curated with the Jorge Baldor Curator of Latin American Art Dr. Mark Castro and brings together works from Latin American and Indigenous American Art in thematic groupings. Visitors can also expect an enhanced Andean and Isthmo-Colombian gold display as well as new textile stations that will showcase Panamanian Guna molas and Maya and other Central American textiles. They will also see new signage, labels, and object placements throughout, including “Case Studies” labels which permit deeper dives into complicated topics such as authenticity, light sensitivity and acquisition practices.
About the Indigenous American Art Galleries Unveil
The Dallas Museum of Art welcomed over 150 members and special guests to celebrate the opening of the galleries on January 19, 2020. The Eugene McDermott Director Dr. Agustín Arteaga kicked off the evening by presenting the City of Dallas Office of Equity and Inclusion's Land Acknowledgment to honor the original inhabitants of our region.
“As the City’s Museum, we join the City of Dallas Office of Equity and Inclusion in recognizing the American Indian peoples as original stewards of our land,” said The Eugene McDermott Director Dr. Agustín Arteaga. “We are honored to present Indigenous American cultures and hope our guests will feel our commitment to representing them with celebrated authenticity.”
Dr. Rich then recognized the community advisors who contributed their time and expertise before she provided an overview of the reinstallation process and collection strengths. The evening concluded with a traditional Kiowa prayer song paying homage to the past, present, and future performed by Michael Tongkeamha, the Cultural Coordinator for Texas Native Health and Dora Brought Plenty, a boarding school survivor. Finally, Rich revealed the Arts of the Ancient Americas catalogue and invited guests to experience the refreshed Indigenous American Art galleries for the first time.
The Dallas Museum of Art looks forward to welcoming visitors to experience our Indigenous American Art galleries, located on Level 4 and accessible with free general admission.
About the Arts of the Ancient Americas Catalogue
Over the past 90 years, the Dallas Museum of Art has built up a world-renowned collection of artworks from the Ancient Americas (including Indigenous works from the southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, the Isthmo-Colombian Area, and the Andes of South America). This publication celebrates the collection, with scholarly research on the pieces and accompanying scholarly essays giving the reader an overview of Ancient American arts ranging from Four Corners in the United States to the southern extent of the Andes and showing the art of many peoples and cultures including Hopi, Hohokam, Ancestral Pueblo, Cases Grandes, West Mexico, Veracruz, Aztec, Olmec, Maya, Nicoya, Diquis, Chiriqui, Calima, Tairona, Jama-Coaque, Chavin, Moche, Wari, Nasca, Paracas, Chimú, and Inca masterworks. Dr. Michelle Rich, the DMA’s Ellen and Harry S. Parker III Assistant Curator of the Arts of the Americas, supplies a general introduction discussing the history of the collection, and in addition to short entries on specific works, the catalogue also features five essays by guest authors. Kaen Miller Nearburg delves into Ancestral Puebloan continuity and dynamic expression in the context of the work of four contemporary Pueblo potters, including excerpts from interviews. Dr. David Stuart contributes an essay featuring royal Maya women in the context of two classic Maya sculptures in the collection. In their essay, Dr. Brigitte Kovacevich, Dr. Marcus Young et al. examine the uses and significance of Mesoamerican jades and greenstones through scientific analysis and characterization of 67 greenstones from the collection. Dr. Orlando Hernández-Ying explores the trajectory of metallurgy and in particular goldwork throughout the Isthmo-Colombian Area. Finally, Dr. Ann Pollard Rowe analyzes a previously undefined style of four-panel tunics within the textile production of the Ancient Andes. Michelle Rich serves as the scholarly editor.
About the DMA’s Indigenous American Art Collection
Key donors to the Indigenous Arts of the Americas include Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott, Mary McDermott Cook and the Eugene McDermott Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon; Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated; Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison; Nora and John Wise; The Dozier Foundation; the Foundation for the Arts Collection; the Boeckmann Family, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus; Silas R. Mountsier III; Dr. and Mrs. Robert I. Kramer; Prescott and Susan Andrews, and several anonymous donors. Endowment funds have also supported acquisitions, including the Dallas Art Association Purchase Fund, the General Acquisitions Fund, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., The Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Fund, The Roberta Coke Camp Fund, and the Textile Purchase Fund. The Dallas Museum of Art would also like to thank the following who gifted or lent works to our Latin American Art collection that are now on view in conjunction with the reinstallation: the Nasher Family, Elva Perez and The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation; Linda Marcus, the Albritton Family and Ariel Zúñiga. Community Consultations were supported by the DMA’s The Bonnie Pitman Education Endowment to Do Something New fund supported by Beverly and Donald S. Freeman.