Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand–the Art Institute’s magnificent exhibit of almost 300 stunningly beautiful Amerindian objects, some as old as 7,000 years–offers evidence of a very different worldview from our own. As curator Richard Townsend says in his catalog essay, these ancient peoples in the southern and midwestern United States believed they were participating in a “network of connections” that included the “powers inherent in rivers, rocks, mountains” and the “all-powerful forces of life, death, and renewal.” Though he used aesthetic merit as the principal criterion for inclusion in the exhibit, he also told me that usually the best pieces “have the greatest charge of cultural content.” In fact the artifacts in this show can stand alongside the great works in any tradition.
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As in other non-Western cultures, the human-animal hybrids here are signs of the deep connections drawn between animals and people. A ceremonial deer mask (AD 1250-1400) is a human face of carved wood with white shells for its powerfully blank eyes; carved antlers project elegantly into space. Birdman, who wears a hawk mask and whose human arms are feathered, is engraved on a whelk shell (AD 1200-1400); as in many such engravings, the curves of the human shape accord with the shell’s curves.
Most of these works will not be on public view after the show completes its tour. Many come from private collections, the majority of those owned by museums are kept in storage, and the Art Institute owns none. Townsend says he was astounded to discover during his four years of searching for objects that despite 150 years of archaeology in these areas, “the only place that really showed a wide range of this work to advantage and told the story in a contextual and narrative fashion was the Ohio Historical Society.”
When: Through January 30
On the Back of the Great Turtle: Native People of the Great Lakes
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Fred Camper.
