One or the current exhibitions at the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC is a retrospective of the work of Saulteaux First Nations artist, Robert Houle. Born in 1947 in Wiinepeg, Canada, and subjected as a youngster to the indignities of the Catholic boarding schools, but buffered by a strong family and community support network, his works reflect the tension created by the misappropriations and other influences of the Settler Culture on the traditional Saulteaux and other native societies. A quote featured earlier on the catalog from Robert's mother Gladys sets the stage, "If you are going to be an artist, paint only what you know."
The exhibition opens outside of the formal gallery spaces with a pairing of one of his monumental works from 1992, Kanata. The presentation is a pairing of two paintings. One, and reinterpretation of the Benjamin West's 1770 masterwork "The Death of General Wolfe" that hangs in The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The second features the Native American in the composition in a setting devoid of war and the presence of Europeans. Even in the first painting the original work by West is reproduced in sepia tones saves for the image of the Native American.
The work is large and draws one into its presence. And I thought, where can Houle take me from here?
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