The exhibition ‘Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting’ at the National Museum of the American Indian highlights the evolution of painting by Native artists from World War I to the present. This showcase aims to bring greater recognition to the contributions and diversity of Native American painters.

One notable piece in the exhibition is ‘Spatial Whorl,’ created by Native American artist Dick West between 1949 and 1950. West’s work exemplifies modernist abstraction, utilizing a vibrant multicolor palette that challenges the conventional view of Native art as primarily ‘crafts,’ such as textiles and ceramics.

Historically, Native American paintings have been underrepresented in Washington, D.C. museums. Often, these artists were marginalized and their work labeled as crafts rather than high art. However, the National Gallery of Art did hold ‘Contemporary American Indian Painting’ in 1953, a significant event, though it did not continue to feature Native painters prominently afterwards.

The National Gallery of Art revisited the display of Native artwork in 2023 with ‘The Land Carries Our Ancestors.’ While this exhibition included paintings, it did not comprehensively cover the full spectrum of Native American painting. The current exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian seeks to fill this gap by presenting a broad and varied collection of Native paintings.