The Museum of Fine Arts Expands the Definition of American History with Native American Sculptural Conversation :”The Knowledge Keepers”

Updating our understanding of American History, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has installed two contemporary Native American sculptures.  Visually connected to “Appeal to the Great Spirit“, “The Knowledge Keepers” invite dialogue challenging an outdated diatribe.   From every angle the triangulated figures point out American History begins with Indigenous History. In contrast to the iconic image of a Native warrior searching the sky, these modern sculptures of Indigenous People meet passers-by eye-to-eye at the Museum’s majestic Huntington Ave entrance.

“Appeal to the Great Spirit” by Cyrus Dallin (1909)

Cast in bronze and gilded in platinum the newly installed sculptures of Julie Marden, an Aquinnah Wampanoag member and Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines, Jr. of Nipmuc ancestry reflect the modern realities of Native Americans participating fully in today’s enterprises. No longer portrayed as stereotypes of Native life softened with the patina of age, the life-sized sculptures created by Alan Michelson glimmer metaphorically alluding to participation in a bright future.

“The Knowledge Keepers” Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines, Jr. by Alan Michelson (2024)

“The Knowledge Keepers” Julie Marden by Alan Michelson (2024)

Emphasizing the roles of Marden and Gaines as cultural ambassadors, this installation is part of an on-going initiative by the MFA, and the soon to launch Boston Public Art Triennial project, to celebrate the beauty, presence, agency and endurance of the Indigenous nations of Massachusetts.