The Plains Indians Exhibition: A Milestone for the Met — metmuseum.org

Robe with Mythic Bird, ca. 1700–40. mid-Mississippi River Basin, probably Illinois Confederacy. Eastern Plains. Native-tanned leather, pigment. Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France (71.1878.32.134) «Today, The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky, a ground-breaking exhibition of Native American art, opens to the public at the Metropolitan Museum. Although indigenous art from North America has been presented at the Museum before, both in the permanent galleries in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing and in smaller-scale temporary exhibitions, this project represents a certain milestone in the Museum's history. It focuses on a single region and includes more than 150 works of art that range from ancient stone sculptures made before European contact through painted buffalo hides and items of prestigious regalia to more recent works on paper, paintings, photographs, and a contemporary video installation piece. The scope of this exhibition is extremely ambitious, and I am delighted to have been a part of this project as the organizer for the venue here in New York.»

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