This is a chronological list of significant or pivotal moments in the development of
Native American art or the visual arts of the
Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Earlier dates, especially before the 18th century, are mostly approximate.
11,000 BCE: Megafauna bone etched with a profile image of a walking mammoth and cross-hatched designs left near
Vero Beach, Florida is the oldest known portable art in the Americas[3]
10,000–7000 BCE: "Horny Little Man," a
petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus, is carved in
Lapa do Santo, a cave in central-eastern
Brazil, is the oldest reliably dated
rock art in the Americas.[4]
9250–8950 BCE:
Clovis points - thin, fluted projectile points created using bifacial percussion flaking - are created by
Clovis culture peoples in the Plains and Southwestern North America[5]
9250–8550 BCE: Monte Alegre culture rock paintings created at
Caverna da Pedra Pintada become the oldest known paintings in South America.[6][7]
9000 BCE: A man and child interred in a cave near
Serranópolis in central
Brazil are accompanied by necklaces of human teeth and
mother of pearl[8]
8500 BCE minimum age (could date back to 12,800 BCE): The
Winnemucca Lake petroglyphs located near
Winnemucca Lake, a dry lakebed in northwestern
Nevada, are the earliest known petroglyphs in North America. They feature repeating designs of dots and arches, and other abstract designs.[9]
2600–2000 BCE: Monumental architecture, including
platform mounds and sunken courtyards, built in
Caral,
Supe Valley; Asia;
Aspero; Salinas de Chao; El Paraíso; La Galgada; and
Kotosh, Peru[19]
1400–400 BCE:
Olmec culture thrives in Norte Chico, the tropical lowlands of Mexico. Their art includes
colossal basalt heads, jade sculpture, carved writing in stones, and ceramic effigy jars.
1000–900 BCE: The
Cascajal Block is carved with writing by the
Olmec people, becoming the earliest known example of writing in the Americas[21]
900-1470:
Chimú culture thrives in
Chimor, today's north coastal Peru.[28] Their art is characterized by monochromatic pottery; fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and
tumbago (copper and gold alloy);[29] and monumental abode construction in their capital city
Chan Chan
1000: Island of
Marajó flourishes as an Amazonian ceramic center
1325–1521: The
Aztec Empire thrives, based in
Tenochtitlan, central Mexico. Their arts are characterized by monumental stone architecture, turquoise mosaics, stone carving, ceramics, cotton textiles, and
Aztec codices
1825:
Ursuline nuns teach floral embroidery to
Métis and
Dene women in
Fort Chipewyan and
Winnipeg,[41] which will revolutionize Great Lakes quillwork, embroidery, and beadwork
1830–1900: Tribes near
Niagara Falls create beadwork whimsies,
birch bark boxes, and other art forms, jumpstarting an active souvenir trade,[41] following the decline in the fur trade
1840s:
Zacharie Vincent (
Huron, 1815–1886) begins his career as a realist oil painter
1826/8:
David Cusick (ca. 1780–ca. 1831) published his self-illustrated Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations.
1858–1869:
Aron of Kangeq (1822–1869), a
Kalaallit sculptor and carver, paints over 300 watercolors about traditional ways of life in
Greenland, later to be published in books
1860s: Depletion of
buffalo and forced relocation onto reservations causes
Plains Indians to shift from
hide painting to painting and drawing on cloth and paper, giving birth to
Ledger art
1932:
Kiowa Six participate in the
Venice Biennale. Their art, according to
Dorothy Dunn, "was acclaimed the most popular exhibit among all the rich and varied displays assembled."[53]
1958:
Yanktonai Dakota artist
Oscar Howe (1915–1983) writes his famous letter after his work was rejected from the
Philbrook Museum art show for not being "Indian" enough
1971: The Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (now called the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts) is founded by the
Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, as the only museum to focus on contemporary intertribal Native American art
2022:
Cynthia Chavez Lamar is appointed the new director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and is the first Native American woman to serve as a
Smithsonian museum director.[77]
^Martínez, Ma. del Carmen Rodríguez et al.
Oldest Writing in the New World.Science. Vol. 313, No. 5793, 15 Sept 2006: 1610–1614. (retrieved 26 Oct 2009)
^Johansen, Bruce E.
Dating the Iroquois Confederacy.Akwesasne Notes. Fall 1995, Volume 1, 3 & 4, pp. 62–63. (retrieved through Ratical.com, 26 Oct 2009)
Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B. Phillips. Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: 97-8.
ISBN978-0-19-284218-3.
Downs, Dorothy. Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
ISBN0-8130-1335-6.
Dunn, Dorothy. American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968. ASIN B000X7A1T0.
Fane, Diana, ed. Converging Cultures: Art & Identity in Spanish America. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
ISBN0-87273-134-0.
Greene, Candace S. and Russel Thornton, ed. The Year the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at the Smithsonian. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007.
ISBN0-8032-2211-4
Hessel, Ingo. Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum. Phoenix:
Heard Museum, 2006.
ISBN9781553651895.
Libhart, Myles. Contemporary Sioux Painting. Rapid City, SD: Indian Arts and Crafts Board, 1970. ASIN B001Y46FHS.
McFadden, David Revere and Ellen Napiura Taubman. Changing Hands: Art without Reservation 2: Contemporary Native North American Art from the West, Northwest and Pacific. New York: Museum of Arts and Design, 2005.
ISBN1-890385-11-5.
Penny, David W. North American Indian Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.
ISBN0-500-20377-6.
Seymour, Tryntje Van Ness. When the Rainbow Touches Down. Phoenix, AZ: Heard Museum, 1988.
ISBN0-934351-01-5.
This is a chronological list of significant or pivotal moments in the development of
Native American art or the visual arts of the
Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Earlier dates, especially before the 18th century, are mostly approximate.
11,000 BCE: Megafauna bone etched with a profile image of a walking mammoth and cross-hatched designs left near
Vero Beach, Florida is the oldest known portable art in the Americas[3]
10,000–7000 BCE: "Horny Little Man," a
petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus, is carved in
Lapa do Santo, a cave in central-eastern
Brazil, is the oldest reliably dated
rock art in the Americas.[4]
9250–8950 BCE:
Clovis points - thin, fluted projectile points created using bifacial percussion flaking - are created by
Clovis culture peoples in the Plains and Southwestern North America[5]
9250–8550 BCE: Monte Alegre culture rock paintings created at
Caverna da Pedra Pintada become the oldest known paintings in South America.[6][7]
9000 BCE: A man and child interred in a cave near
Serranópolis in central
Brazil are accompanied by necklaces of human teeth and
mother of pearl[8]
8500 BCE minimum age (could date back to 12,800 BCE): The
Winnemucca Lake petroglyphs located near
Winnemucca Lake, a dry lakebed in northwestern
Nevada, are the earliest known petroglyphs in North America. They feature repeating designs of dots and arches, and other abstract designs.[9]
2600–2000 BCE: Monumental architecture, including
platform mounds and sunken courtyards, built in
Caral,
Supe Valley; Asia;
Aspero; Salinas de Chao; El Paraíso; La Galgada; and
Kotosh, Peru[19]
1400–400 BCE:
Olmec culture thrives in Norte Chico, the tropical lowlands of Mexico. Their art includes
colossal basalt heads, jade sculpture, carved writing in stones, and ceramic effigy jars.
1000–900 BCE: The
Cascajal Block is carved with writing by the
Olmec people, becoming the earliest known example of writing in the Americas[21]
900-1470:
Chimú culture thrives in
Chimor, today's north coastal Peru.[28] Their art is characterized by monochromatic pottery; fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and
tumbago (copper and gold alloy);[29] and monumental abode construction in their capital city
Chan Chan
1000: Island of
Marajó flourishes as an Amazonian ceramic center
1325–1521: The
Aztec Empire thrives, based in
Tenochtitlan, central Mexico. Their arts are characterized by monumental stone architecture, turquoise mosaics, stone carving, ceramics, cotton textiles, and
Aztec codices
1825:
Ursuline nuns teach floral embroidery to
Métis and
Dene women in
Fort Chipewyan and
Winnipeg,[41] which will revolutionize Great Lakes quillwork, embroidery, and beadwork
1830–1900: Tribes near
Niagara Falls create beadwork whimsies,
birch bark boxes, and other art forms, jumpstarting an active souvenir trade,[41] following the decline in the fur trade
1840s:
Zacharie Vincent (
Huron, 1815–1886) begins his career as a realist oil painter
1826/8:
David Cusick (ca. 1780–ca. 1831) published his self-illustrated Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations.
1858–1869:
Aron of Kangeq (1822–1869), a
Kalaallit sculptor and carver, paints over 300 watercolors about traditional ways of life in
Greenland, later to be published in books
1860s: Depletion of
buffalo and forced relocation onto reservations causes
Plains Indians to shift from
hide painting to painting and drawing on cloth and paper, giving birth to
Ledger art
1932:
Kiowa Six participate in the
Venice Biennale. Their art, according to
Dorothy Dunn, "was acclaimed the most popular exhibit among all the rich and varied displays assembled."[53]
1958:
Yanktonai Dakota artist
Oscar Howe (1915–1983) writes his famous letter after his work was rejected from the
Philbrook Museum art show for not being "Indian" enough
1971: The Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (now called the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts) is founded by the
Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, as the only museum to focus on contemporary intertribal Native American art
2022:
Cynthia Chavez Lamar is appointed the new director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and is the first Native American woman to serve as a
Smithsonian museum director.[77]
^Martínez, Ma. del Carmen Rodríguez et al.
Oldest Writing in the New World.Science. Vol. 313, No. 5793, 15 Sept 2006: 1610–1614. (retrieved 26 Oct 2009)
^Johansen, Bruce E.
Dating the Iroquois Confederacy.Akwesasne Notes. Fall 1995, Volume 1, 3 & 4, pp. 62–63. (retrieved through Ratical.com, 26 Oct 2009)
Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B. Phillips. Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: 97-8.
ISBN978-0-19-284218-3.
Downs, Dorothy. Art of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
ISBN0-8130-1335-6.
Dunn, Dorothy. American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968. ASIN B000X7A1T0.
Fane, Diana, ed. Converging Cultures: Art & Identity in Spanish America. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
ISBN0-87273-134-0.
Greene, Candace S. and Russel Thornton, ed. The Year the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at the Smithsonian. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007.
ISBN0-8032-2211-4
Hessel, Ingo. Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum. Phoenix:
Heard Museum, 2006.
ISBN9781553651895.
Libhart, Myles. Contemporary Sioux Painting. Rapid City, SD: Indian Arts and Crafts Board, 1970. ASIN B001Y46FHS.
McFadden, David Revere and Ellen Napiura Taubman. Changing Hands: Art without Reservation 2: Contemporary Native North American Art from the West, Northwest and Pacific. New York: Museum of Arts and Design, 2005.
ISBN1-890385-11-5.
Penny, David W. North American Indian Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.
ISBN0-500-20377-6.
Seymour, Tryntje Van Ness. When the Rainbow Touches Down. Phoenix, AZ: Heard Museum, 1988.
ISBN0-934351-01-5.