Oscar Howe's Rider Painting Analysis

Native Americans have endured disease, colonization, and relocation from their homes. Much of their culture was drastically changed due to mission efforts and government intervention which led to massive acculturation. However, to claim that their culture was buried with their ancestors is a rather ignorant accusation. In other words, it was transformed to fit the view of modern society, but remaining in touch with their roots. To better understand this transformation, I have focused to analyze a painting by Oscar Howe (Native American) titled Rider which creates a unique blend of Native American and Western design.
First, let us focus on the modern elements that are employed in this beautifully crafted artwork. One could describe this as abstractionism which happened to develop around late 1940s, so this is definitely a contemporary work. We can see thin and rapid brush strokes which allude to movement of some kind. This is drastically different than some of the early Native American artworks which use rather thick strokes. Originally, painting at least in the plains were depicted on buffalo hide and was usually stick figure based depicting a variety of events. …show more content…
As I recall from lecture, this image was placed in the Fill brook festival but was rejected for not being “traditional” enough. Yet, as the earlier paragraph tells us there is significant ancestral beliefs and designs in this painting. So, the problem arises when institutions are judging what constitutes as Native American and not. These institutions have implanted in their mind that Native American art will always be the simple, flat 2d designs that depict nature. They cannot see that art can change in response to the surrounding environment while still remaining in touch with their