Donald Ellis Gallery Named One of the 10 Best Booths at Frieze

Artsy editors have selected Donald Ellis Gallery as one of ten highlights from the inaugural edition of Frieze New York online. Chosen from 200 galleries from around the world, the gallery is showing works on paper by various Indigenous cultures of the Great Plains — some of the oldest works of art shown at the fair. The selection is an important recognition of the central place of Plains Indian Ledger Drawings among the great American art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 'These extraordinary works of art capture time and place in a way that is immediate and honest and quite unlike anything else I have encountered,' Ellis said. 'It has been my intention to give them the audience they deserve.' 

The drawings were a way of recording history for communities with no written language, and feature warriors on horseback, a patchwork train roaring across a verdant plain, bands of marching figures, and a quiet handshake between two teepees. The author notes that 'to the contemporary viewer, the works offer insights into the styles, conflicts, and communities of another era.'

In response to the global health crisis, Donald Ellis Gallery is donating 20 percent of all sales to the Center for American Indian Health, the NYC COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, or City Meals on Wheels, depending on the purchaser’s preference.