The Easel

Archives: ICT

4th February 2025

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith dies at 85

When one of her paintings was acquired by Washington’s National Gallery in 2020, Smith asked “why is it the first”? Over a long career she had, in fact, posted a series of firsts for a Native American artist. In particular, she was one of the first to represent contemporary Native life by combining contemporary American imagery with Native icons such as canoes and buffalo. On achieving national prominence in her old age, she marvelled “I’m a miracle, and any Native person is a miracle.”