Artist and Model

Artist and Model

2012
Artist
Kent Monkman, Swampy Cree, Fisher River First Nation, b. 1965
Born: Ontario
Work Locations: Toronto, ON
Culture
Swampy Cree | Fisher River First Nation
Country
Canada
Object
painting
Medium
acrylic paint on canvas
Accession Number
2016.287
Credit Line
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Band Cree), Artist and Model, 2012. Acrylic paint on canvas; 59 1/4 x 95 in. Gift of Vicki and Kent Logan to the Denver Art Museum, 2016.287. © Kent Monkman.

Dimensions
image height: 59 1/4 in, 150.4950 cm; image width: 95 1/8 in, 241.6175 cm; frame height: 70 5/8 in, 179.3875 cm; frame width: 105 5/8 in, 268.2875 cm; frame depth: 5 1/4 in, 13.3350 cm
Inscription
Signature and year (2012) in BRC.
Department
Native Arts
Collection
Indigenous Arts of North America

In this painting Monkman both literally and figuratively inverts the power dynamic between native model and non-native artist. Early 20th century photographer Edward S. Curtis becomes a passive eroticized subject while Miss Chief, having smashed his camera, takes back Native authorship and creative control. This subject signaled a new course for Monkman’s work as the study for this painting (2003) featured the first appearance of his Miss Chief character.

Exhibition History
  • "Sovereign: Independent Voices" at Denver Art Museum, 9/2013-8/2015
  • “Disruption: Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection” — Denver Art Museum, 1/13/2022

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