Frank Overton Colbert: A Study in Trans-Customary Indigenous Modern Art

As the art historical canon makes a turn toward decolonization in the 21st century, art historians have an opportunity to rediscover and recognize long marginalized artists whose contributions expand, complicate, and enhance the conventional narrative that has most often privileged the work of white male artists. When we look at the development of American modernism in fine art, particularly at the period between the Armory Show of 1913 and the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, artists fervently desired to create a distinctively American visual culture which moved beyond European academic or avant-garde influences. In the midst of this tumultuous period of American experimentation, a cosmopolitan, Chickasaw artist named Frank Overton Colbert emerged on the New York art scene. He produced an innovative body of work which has largely been forgotten since its initial display. Colbert’s artistic production, consisting of more than seventy paintings produced between 1920 and 1923, was emblematic of the modernist zeitgeist while being concomitantly rooted in Native American tribal cultures. Colbert’s small paintings of pan-indigenous “gods” and “folklore,” accompanied by narrative texts and performative actions, became an art world sensation, albeit brief, when Colbert began exhibiting in New York. In this study of Frank Overton Colbert’s few surviving works, I describe the aesthetic qualities and influences on his artistic practice and contextualize the diverse indigenous subject matter he painted. I also review the exhibition history and critical reception of his practice. Through these means, I aim to cast light on Colbert’s larger project as a trans-customary artist, a trans-cultural interpreter, and a significant indigenous presence within the evolving canons of both Native North American modernism and American modernist painting.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art and Art History (UMKC)

Grantor

University of Missouri--Kansas City

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Hearn, Brian L.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Albu, Cristina

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10355/84176

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/84176