Agua Caliente Cultural Museum In Palm Springs To Host New Art Exhibit

PALM SPRINGS, CA — The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in Palm Springs will showcase a new exhibit later this week featuring a collection of paintings exploring the emergence of Indigenous art during the 20th century.

The exhibit, "A Beauty That Endures: Native Painting, Ceremony and Resilience in the 20th Century," will open Saturday at 140 N. Indian Canyon Drive. It will conclude May 30, 2027.

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The artworks involve more than 50 paintings from artists who represent more than a dozen tribal nations. Curated by Tony Abeyta (Dine/Navajo), the exhibit examines Native American art history during the first half of the 20th century, a period of changes for tribal nations, including federal assimilation policies, boarding schools, Christian missions and relocation.

The artists depicted this era in their paintings by negotiating "the complex realities of modern life while remaining deeply rooted in the ceremonial, philosophical and aesthetic traditions of their respective communities," the museum said.

"The paintings reveal sophisticated systems of knowledge grounded in ceremony, oral tradition, ecological relationships and community memory," officials added.

The exhibit will feature works by Acee Blue Eagle, Frank Day, Allan Houser, Jack Hokeah, Oscar Howe, Shije Herrera, Stephen Mopope, Tonita Pena, Pop Charlee, Alfonso Roybal, Ernest Spybuck, Quincy Tahoma, Princess Bonita Wa Wa Calachaw Nunez, Dick West and Valjean Hessing.

The artworks were provided from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.