Connections: The Blackfeet and Winold Reiss

BROWNING, MONTANA:  The Museum of the Plains Indian, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, announces the opening of a special exhibition, Connections: The Blackfeet and Winold Reiss.  The exhibition will run from May 27 to October 29, 2022. 

The artwork presented in this exhibition showcase connections between Blackfeet people and German American modernist artist Winold Reiss (1886-1953). Some individuals and families from the Blackfeet Nation formed decades-long relationships with Reiss during his many visits to Blackfoot Territory from New York between 1920 and 1948. This exhibition puts nine of Reiss’s original pastel portraits into conversation with the art and belongings of Blackfeet people from the collection of the Museum of the Plains Indian. These portraits connect a modern audience with Blackfeet individuals who grappled with the imposition of the tourism industry on their traditional territory in the early twentieth century. As iconic images, they circulated widely in North America and internationally. This exhibition reconnects the portraits with their community and families.

through a partnership between Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park Conservancy, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Foundation, and the Museum of the Plains Indian. The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Foundation generously loaned most of the portraits in this exhibition to the Museum of the Plains Indian.

The Museum of the Plains Indian is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board.  For admission fees and hours of operation, please call the Museum of the Plains Indian at (406) 338-2230 or visit www.doi.gov/iacb/museum-plains-indian . 

*Exhibition brochure