The Metropolitan Museum Exhibits Rare Collection of Native American Art

Native American Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Man’s Shirt – Unrecorded Niimiipu (Nez Perce) Artist Niimiipu (Nez Perce), circa 1850; hide, quill, horsehair, sinew, wool, glass, pigment (Dirk Bakker/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Before you go to the National Museum of the American Indian down in the Financial District, we suggest stopping at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a limited-run exhibition of Native American art and artifacts of its own.

Curators have meticulously pieced together an exhibit from The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection. The Diker Collection is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, including pieces as early as the second century and as modern as the 20th. Per the museum, the exhibit reflects “the unique and innovative visions from these traditions in a wide variety of aesthetic forms and media.”

Moccasins – Unrecorded Muscogee (Creek) Artist Muscogee (Creek), circa 1830; hide, silk, cotton, glass, metal (Dirk Bakker/The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The exhibition is a culmination of a national tour entitled Indigenous Beauty, which is making its final stop in NYC. Says Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

“Charles and Valerie Diker were truly visionary in their early appreciation for Native American art and have assembled an extraordinary collection that defines North America’s earliest and most enduring artistic heritage. As an encyclopedic museum, we are thrilled to reaffirm our commitment to this critical field through this exhibition.”

Including both the U.S. and Canada, the exhibit is set up by region to allow you to browse the Southwest, Northwest Coast, Plains, Great Lakes, and California. Pieces include everything from pottery and clothing to sculpture and drawings.

The exhibit is now open and runs through March 19, 2017. To schedule a visit to the Met, click here. Scroll down for a preview of more of its unique artifacts.

Dress and Belt with Awl Case – Unrecorded Wasco Artist, Wasco, circa 1870; hide, glass, shell, bone, teeth, metal (Dirk Bakker/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Dance Mask – Unrecorded Yup’ik Artist, Yup’ik, circa 1916–18; wood, pigment, vegetal fiber (Dirk Bakker/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Shield – Joseph No Two Horns, He Nupa Wanica Hunkpapa (Lakota), circa 1885; hide, feathers, pigment, ink, sinew, cotton, plant fiber, wood (Dirk Bakker/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Kiowa Vanquishing Navajo Artist A (‘Julian Scott Ledger’), Ka’igwu (Kiowa), 1880; pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper (Dirk Bakker/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)