Table Of ContentArt | American Indians
the first full-length critical
“jaune quick-to-see smith has, over the decades, established herself as an important and analysis of the paintings of Jaune
infuential American artist. This beautifully illustrated and marvelously written publication is Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Quick-to-See Smith, this book
the frst book-length study of her art. Museum curator and art historian Carolyn Kastner treats focuses on Smith’s role as a mod-
Quick-to-See Smith’s work both from a broad perspective that situates it within the history ernist in addition to her status as a
of an American modernism and from close inspections of individual pieces. Kastner elegantly an american modernist well-known Native American art-
interweaves analyses of the formal qualities of each artwork with its often complex and sub-
ist. With close readings of Smith’s
tle ideological, political, and historical messages. As I read this book, I was captivated by the
work, Carolyn Kastner shows how
artist and her works from beginning to end, and impressed by Kastner’s insightful and sensitive
Smith simultaneously contributes
interpretations.”
—Aldona Jonaitis, University of Alaska Fairbanks to and critiques American art and
its history.
“carolyn kastner’s monograph on Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a distinguished (Native) Smith has distinguished herself
American artist of Sqelix’u, Métis, and Shoshone ancestry, is thoughtful and nuanced. Sen- as a modernist both in her pursuit
sitive to Smith’s expressive facture, symbolic color, and cross-cultural iconography, Kastner of abstraction and her expressive
demonstrates how she simultaneously contributes to and critiques the history of American art. technique, but too often her iden-
Emphasizing Smith’s political will and artistic discipline, Kastner’s close and careful reading of tity as a Native American artist has
this major modernist intensifes and clarifes my admiration for her aesthetic achievement.” overshadowed these aspects of her
—W. Jackson Rushing III, coauthor and editor of Modern Spirit: work. Addressing specifc themes
The Art of George Morrison in Smith’s career, Kastner situates
Smith within specifc historical
“carolyn kastner’s subtle close reading of a number of important works by Jaune and cultural moments of American
Quick-to-See Smith will deepen and enrich every reader’s understanding of this impor- art, comparing her work to the
tant American artist.” abstractions of Kandinsky and
—Janet Catherine Berlo, professor of visual and cultural studies,
Miró, as well as to the pop art of
University of Rochester, and coauthor, Native North American Art
Rauschenberg and Johns. She dis-
cusses Smith’s appropriation of pop
“carolyn kastner, in this important and long overdue survey of the work of
culture icons like the Barbie doll,
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, demonstrates how this artist’s oeuvre actively defes conventional
reimagined by the artist as Barbie
narratives that isolate the art of Native Americans so that it remains outside of the canon of
postwar American art. Kastner’s insightful readings of Quick-to-See Smith’s art reveal how Plenty Horses. As Kastner consid-
Carolyn Kastner is curator at the she at once makes use of and critiques both the formal vocabularies and techniques of Ameri- ers how Smith constructs each new
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. can avant-garde artists ranging from Abstract Expressionist Willem De Kooning through Pop series of art works within the artis-
artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg to Neo-Expressionist Jean Michel Basquiat. tic, social, and political discourse
Jacket illustration: The Court House Steps by Jaune
Quick-to-See Smith courtesy of the Albuquerque Through close readings, this book provides an essential monographic appraisal of Quick-to-See of its time, she defnes Smith’s
Museum of Art and History Smith’s art while arguing for a more expansive account of the history of American modernism.” contribution to American modern-
—Evelyn Hankins, Hirshhorn Museum ism and its history. Discussing the
ways in which Smith draws upon
her cultural heritage—both Native
and non-Native—Kastner demon-
ISBN 978-0-8263-5389-4 strates how Smith has expanded
the defnitions of “American” and
University of New Mexico Press “modernist” art.
unmpress.com | 800-249-7737 ËxHSKIMGy353894zv*:+:!:+:! Carolyn Kastner
Kastner Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
an american modernist
Carolyn Kastner
University of New Mexico Press | Albuquerque
© 2013 by the University of New Mexico Press
All rights reserved. Published 2013
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kastner, Carolyn.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith : an American modernist / Carolyn Kastner. —
First [edition].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8263-5389-4 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-8263-5390-0 (electronic)
1. Smith, Jaune Quick-to-See, 1940– —Criticism and interpretation.
2. Modernism (Art)—United States. I. Title.
ND237.S59825K37 2013
759.13—dc23
2013015935
In Memory of John and Pam King
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter One
Born in the USA 7
Chapter two
Seeing Red: Indigenous Identity and Artistic Strategy 17
Chapter three
American Modernism and the Politics of Landscape 27
Chapter four
Chief Seattle: Visualizing Environmental Disaster 39
Chapter five
The Discourse of Modern Art in a Post Columbian World 51
Notes 61
Bibliography 77
Index 83
Plates follow page 60
Acknowledgments
▲▼▲ This project began as a paper for the Native American Art Study
Association, where I learned how to be a scholar and a grateful human being. So
it is appropriate that I begin with thanks to my colleagues and dearest friends,
Bill Anthes and Kate Morris, for their encouragement to submit a paper to their
panel on contemporary Native American art. By the time I had fnished the
paper on Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Chief Seattle series, I knew her artwork
deserved a book-length monograph. From that frst study, I realized the great
depth of her political will and artistic discipline. I am especially grateful to Kate,
who read a draft of that frst paper and encouraged me to think of it as the
beginning of the manuscript that has become this book.
The research for that frst paper and this project began at Jaune Quick-
to-See Smith’s kitchen table as she and her husband, Andy Ambrose, opened
boxes of documents and slides and then left a stranger to examine the record of a
prolifc career that had been collected, ordered, and stored over the decades. In
the years since my frst visit, our time together has included many meals at that
kitchen table, where they opened their hearts as well as their precious archive
and we became friends and collaborators on this project. My gratitude for their
loving generosity is immeasurable. I also thank Neal Ambrose-Smith for his
loyal enthusiasm and technical support.
My experience as an intern at the Anderson Collection in the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area enabled me to recognize the signifcance of Jaune Quick-to-See
Smith’s place as an American modernist. My appreciation of modernist art grew
ix
