Highlights from New York Art Week 2022

Brian P. Kelly of Artsy lists Donald Ellis Gallery’s presentation of historical Native American and First Nations art as one of the best presentations at New York Art Week 2022. Exhibiting at TEFAF New York Spring ’with works by Louisa Keyser (Dat So La Lee), Kadjisdu.acxh II, Arapaho Artist B, Noh Hu Nah Wih (Chief Killer), Nokkoist (Bear’s Heart), Cedar Tree, and anonymous artists,’ the author observes, the display shows why the gallery has ’established itself as the leading seller of Indigenous North American art.’

Noteworthy highlights include a ‘stunning degikup basket’ made by Louisa Keyser (Dat So La Lee, 1850-1925), widely considered to be among the most important Indigenous artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Another masterpiece is a late 18th century shaman’s rattle carved in the form of an oystercatcher with asymmetrically carved imagery composed on its back. Attributed to Tlingit artist Kadjisdu.axch II, ‘the supreme delicacy of the rattle, adorned with human and animal figures and completed with an ivory beak, is breathtaking.’