Pattern and Innovation: Oscar Howe at the Portland Art Museum

Born on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, Oscar Howe (1915–1983) absorbed through his grandmother’s stories a deep knowledge of his people and their religion. This heritage formed the lifelong basis of his art. In paintings and drawings, he explored the traditional daily activities, sacred ceremonies, and solitary vision quests of his Dakota community. An artist from a young age, Howe studied in the 1930s at the Santa Fe Indian School, trained as a muralist while working fo