Visionary Landscapes in the Americas

Michelle Basic Hendry (Artscapes) in Canada reminded me that native artists have played an important but often overlooked part in the development of landscape art as a genre.

Painted Earth
© David Beaucage Johnson

This week she posted an article about Visionary Landscapes. It's a fascinating piece and is a recommended read.

She concludes...

This article does not even begin to scratch the surface of Visionary Landscape and Native art across Canada. Visionary landscape and First Nations art, in general, is so often overlooked in the mainstream art world. It was no surprise to me how difficult it was to gather information. In the case of the linked artists, except for Morrisseau, who was labeled by the French, the Picasso of the North, most of my knowledge of the other artists is through my own experience of the art and personal contact. I hope that this might offer a little more insight into an art form that should no longer be neglected by the history books.

I went looking for links to information and found quite a few on wikipedia which I'd never come across before. It struck me that the way the categories of information worked it was as if native art was being treated as an adjunct to western art rather than an important part of its development.

• First Nations - the term used for for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas located in what is now Canada (except for the Arctic)
• the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Painting in the Americas before Colonization
• Native American Art
• Northwest Coast Art
  
• a Timeline of Native American art history on Wikipedia
• a List of Native American artists
• a List of indigenous artists of the Americas

At present I can do little more than list these sources of further information but I hope to return to this topic in time and/or to reference more very helpful posts such as the one by Michelle.

Finally, this is a link to the website of David Beaucage Johnson, the native artist in Ontario, Canada who is highlighted in Michelle's post.

NOTE: Contact me if you have posted on your blog
about an important aspect in the development of landscape art
which you would like referenced on this blog.