Allen Center Art Collection Celebrates 19th and 20th Century Indigenous Work
In recognition of November's Native American and Indigenous Heritage Month, we took a stop on the Indigenous Tour of Northwestern and visited the art collection at the James L. Allen Center on the Evanston campus.
From the early days of designing the Allen Center in the latter 1970s, the planners considered the integral role of art. Three major contemporary works were even commissioned from renowned artists, including Chicagoan and legendary sculptor Richard Hunt. These works set the tone for a collection that has grown over the years and today holds more than 300 pieces from a variety of origins, including from the Inuit and Native Americans.
The center holds one of the most substantial collections of Inuit art in the Midwestern United States with around 200 works. Inuit art, created by the Indigenous peoples of northern Alaska, arctic Canada, and Greenland, was a beloved subject area of the late former dean of the Kellogg School of Management Donald P. Jacobs, who was the visionary behind the creation of the Allen Center—one of the world’s first conference centers for executive education.
Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013), Inuit, Audacious Owl, 1993, stone cut and stencil
Several high-contrast bird prints created by artist Kenojuak Ashevak in the 1990s line a wall of the center’s modern lobby. Known as one of Canada’s most acclaimed graphic artists, she helped bring Inuit work to the world stage when one of her images appeared on a Canadian postal stamp. Her pieces drew upon familiar subjects, such as the animals and birds surrounding her Arctic home at the southern tip of Dorset Island, Canada. The center has 17 works by Ashevak.
Through donations from members of the University community, the collection continued to expand. It now includes Native American art from the 19th and 20th centuries, featuring works from the Haida, Iroquois, Cherokee, and Ho-Chunk nations.
Unknown Artist, Nuu-chah-nulth tribe of the Pacific Northwest, Totem Pole, 1880, painted wood
A large totem pole by the Haida people can be found in the Atrium Dining Room, which has panoramic views of Lake Michigan. The 11-foot carved-wood pole is from the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia—a place where the Haida have lived since the end of the last ice age nearly 11,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest traceable populations in North America.
On the second floor, a glowing portrait of Pocahontas peers down a corridor of study rooms. The piece was created by Cherokee-Dutch painter Elizabeth K. Hart as a part of a “Great Women” series in the 1970s celebrating the popular persona of the legendary Powhatan figure and based on historical images of Pocahontas from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.
Elizabeth K. Hart, Cherokee-Dutch, Pocahontas, 1974, acrylic on linen
As patrons exit through the north entrance, they pass by a five-panel aluminum landscape created by internationally acclaimed Ho-Chunk artist Truman Lowe. The piece is titled Wana, which translates to “cascade,” and depicts turbulent waters etched into the reflective metallic medium. Lowe was a curator of contemporary art at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian from 2000 to 2008, as well as a practicing artist.
Pieces in the art collection have been purchased in an ethical manner and provide credit to the artists when known.
If individuals or small groups would like to visit the Allen Center, they can make arrangements with Gina Green, program manager and the custodian of the art collection for Kellogg, via email at ggreen@kellogg.northwestern.edu. All visits must be scheduled in advance and are by appointment only on weekdays during normal business hours.