New York Historical announces landmark Indigenous art gift ahead of nation’s 250th anniversary

The New York Historical has received a landmark promised gift of modern and contemporary Indigenous art from board chair Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and her husband Oscar Tang, the institution announced this week as the United States prepares to mark its semiquincentennial later this year.

As the first beneficiary of works from the Hsu-Tang Collection of modern and contemporary art, the museum will present the promised gifts in the exhibition “House Made of Dawn: Art by Native Americans 1880 to Now, Selections from the Hsu-Tang Collection,” on view from April 22 through August 2.

The gift includes works by more than 100 artists representing diverse Indigenous nations and communities across the United States. Spanning paintings, sculpture, photography, textiles, ceramics, glass, precious metal, baskets, mixed media, prints and rare books, the collection traces artistic production from the late 19th century to the present.

Among the artists represented are Nampeyo of Hano (Tewa), Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso), Angel De Cora (Ho-Chunk), Zitkala-Ša (Yankton Dakota), Awa Tsireh (San Ildefonso), Gerónima Montoya (Ohkay Owingeh), the Kiowa Six, Acee Blue Eagle (Muscogee), Helen Hardin (Santa Clara), Lee Marmon, Fritz Scholder, Allan Houser, T. C. Cannon, Earl Biss (Crow), Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi), Harry Fonseca (Nisenan), Frank LaPena (Nomtipom-Wintu), Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith, Emmi Whitehorse, Anita Fields (Osage), Rick Bartow (Wiyot), Joe Baker (Lenape), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Cara Romero, Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti), Courtney Leonard (Shinnecock), Frank Buffalo Hyde (Onondaga), Dakota Mace (Diné), Kapulani Landgraf (Kānaka Maoli), Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk), and Jeffrey Gibson, among many others.

A preview installation now on view features Scholder’s lithograph “Indian Contemplating Columbus,” an American flag woven by an unidentified Navajo artist, and Romero’s photograph “Dans L’ombre.”

The exhibition takes its title from “House Made of Dawn,” the 1969 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by N. Scott Momaday, which inspired the Native American focus of the Hsu-Tang Collection. According to Hsu-Tang, reading the novel as a college student prompted a cross-country road trip during which she encountered sites including Shiprock and Antelope Canyon.

“It is our hope that these remarkable works of visual history—collectively named after Momaday’s masterpiece alluding to an ancient Navajo invocation for reconciliation—will inspire meaningful conversations on the occasion of our nation’s semiquincentennial,” Hsu-Tang said. She added that the gift will help advance the museum’s mission of history and civics education through a deeper understanding of Native American art.

The exhibition begins with late 19th- and early 20th-century artists such as Nampeyo and Maria Martinez, as well as painter and illustrator Angel De Cora and poet and composer Zitkala-Ša. It includes early works on paper by Awa Tsireh, Julian Martinez, Quah Ah Tonita Peña, Gerónima Montoya, Tse Tsan Pablita Velarde, Acee Blue Eagle, Archie Blackowl and members of the Kiowa Six, whose “Flat Style” gained international recognition, including at the 1932 Venice Biennale.

Mid-20th-century modernists featured include Oscar Howe (Yanktonai Dakota) and George Morrison (Ojibwe). The exhibition also highlights artists associated with the Grey Canyon Artists collective (1977–1981), including Quick-to-See-Smith and Whitehorse.

In addition, the presentation traces three generations of artists connected to the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, including Scholder, Momaday, Houser, Cannon, Biss, Lomahaftewa, Billy Soza War Soldier, Joy Harjo, Dam Namingha, David Bradley, Fields, Romero, Diego Romero, Leonard and Hyde. Their work helped position the institute, widely known as IAIA, as a leading force in contemporary American art.

The show also marks the first time significant works by photographer Lee Marmon have been exhibited at a New York museum, including a rare first edition of his 1954 photograph “White Man’s Moccasins.”

“This gift and the accompanying milestone exhibition further exemplify Agnes’ institutional vision as board chair,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of The New York Historical, referencing the museum’s 2023 exhibition “Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School,” which foregrounded Indigenous perspectives within American art history.

Curated by Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto, vice president and chief curator, in consultation with Hsu-Tang, the exhibition is part of a broader institutional initiative. Works from the collection will also appear in other installations and in the forthcoming exhibition “Democracy Matters,” to be presented in the new Tang Wing for American Democracy, opening in 2026.