An exhibition held at the Heard Museum, February 24 through September 3, 1996. A unique and comprehensive collection of paintings by Native American artists creates the nucleus for a new exhibit at the Heard Museum. Titled Drawn from Memory: The James T. Bialac Collection of Native American Art, the exhibit features works that span the history of the Native American Fine Art Movement and, in many cases, represent atypical pieces by some of this century's finest Native artists. The exhibit also includes photographs, correspondence and memorabilia from a collection that Jeanne Snodgrass King donated to the museum in 1994. Snodgrass King, who is guest curator for the exhibit, is a leading expert and author on Native American painting. "Through the years, about 30 years of museum work, I got to know many artists," says Snodgrass King ... "They are people that I count as my friends, and I have a very personal relationship with many of them." The relationship between Snodgrass King and many of the artists including R.C. Gorman and Oscar Howe is evident in the materials she has collected -- materials that are rich in biographical and historical information about the artists, institutions and museums associated with them. ... What she did decide to show are a variety of more than 100 paintings ranging from an early Fred Kabotie piece painted in about 1918 to an atypical Gorman piece painted in 1965 called The Parasol and the Cloud. Also included are a diverse selection of work by other top artists, ranging from pieces done early in their careers to present day. The main reason for the exhibit is to show that Indian art changed over the years, Snodgrass King remarks. ... Bialac, an Arizona attorney and member of the Heard's Board of Trustees for more than 25 years, began collecting after he saw an exhibit at the Heard Museum in the early 1960"--Excerpts from publicity for the exhibition.
