George Longfish facts for kids

George Chester Longfish (born August 22, 1942) is a talented First Nations artist, a respected professor, and a museum director. His artwork mixes Pop art with traditional Indigenous designs. He often uses a style called assemblage, which means putting different objects together to create art. Many of his pieces have been shown in big museums. These include the Heard Museum and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. For almost 30 years, he taught Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis (U.C. Davis). He also led the C.N. Gorman Museum at U.C. Davis from 1974 to 1996.

About George Longfish

George Longfish was born on August 22, 1942. His birthplace was Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. He comes from the Seneca and Tuscarora tribes. Ohsweken is a village on the Six Nations on the Grand River First Nation Reserve.

When George was five, his mother took him and his brother to the Thomas Indian School. At this school, they learned to care for farm animals. They also did many other farm tasks. George and his brother stayed at the school for nine years. During this time, they slowly felt less connected to their culture. After the school closed, they moved back to Chicago with their mother. George went to Tuley High School in Chicago, Illinois. As a child, George admired modern artists like Frank Stella and Arshile Gorky. In his paintings, George often showed how he felt about his mother leaving. He also showed how he drifted away from his culture.

Education and Career

George Longfish studied art in college. He earned his first art degree in 1970. Then he got his master's degree in fine arts in 1972. Both degrees were from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In college, he was known as an "angry artist." He used his art to show his strong feelings and pain. He wanted to express how colonists changed the lives of Indigenous people. His art style often included stenciled words and pictures of Indigenous people. He also used many bright colors.

In 1972, George helped start a special art program. It was for American Indian Arts at the University of Montana. He was in charge of this program.

From 1973 to 2003, George was a professor at the University of California, Davis. He taught in the Native American Studies Department. He joined the faculty when Carl Nelson Gorman retired. George also served as the director of the C. N. Gorman Museum. He held this position from 1974 to 1996. In the mid-1970s, George was very active in the art scene in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2003, George retired from teaching. He then started his own art studio. Today, George Longfish lives in South Berwick, Maine. He has an art studio in Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

George Longfish's Artworks

George Longfish has spent his life creating art. He is known around the world for his paintings. His artworks often feature text and bright colors. Even with bright colors, his art shows the pain and strong feelings he experienced. Many of George Longfish's artworks talk about important issues facing Indigenous people today.

As Above So Below

As Above So Below (1997) at the National Gallery of Art in 2023

Longfish's painting As Above So Below shows a Pawnee chief. The chief is painted in black and white. He sits next to a cheeseburger. The background has bright colors and words like truth and honor. Other words include earth, respect, below, honesty, lies, air, reincarnation, and fire. The painting also has the year 1997 on it. The word water is painted upside down.

In 1997, Brazil became a huge exporter of beef for fast food. This meant nature was sometimes destroyed to make these products. The upside-down word "water" and other words show how Indigenous values have been changed. This happened because of colonization. Longfish painted this to show how he had to forget some cultural beliefs. He wants people to remember these important values.

Spirit

In the painting Spirit, Longfish again paints a Pawnee chief in black and white. This time, his birth date is on the artwork. The background has many phrases. These include "Honoring women family children our histories memories". Other phrases are "broken treaties", "toxic waste dump", "genocide", and "disease".

This painting shows how colonists came to America. They caused many problems for the tribes. Colonists often made agreements with Indigenous people. But they would often break these agreements later. They also harmed nature by building factories and houses. These buildings released harmful chemicals. Many colonists also brought diseases with them. These diseases sadly killed many Indigenous people. Longfish painted this to show how colonists changed Indigenous life. He also shows how many children lost their families to war or sickness.

Lightly Salted

The artwork Lightly Salted (1990) uses different materials. It shows a Land O'Lakes "lightly salted" butter package. This package has pictures of "Mia," a Native woman. Above the butter package is a bright red church and angels. They are painted like a Guna mola. Brightly colored arrows and zigzags spread out. Some are cut from shiny metallic paper. The artist said this artwork is a "political statement." It shows how a people have survived through many challenges.

Group Exhibitions

• 1994: "Cultural Contrasts", Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, Connecticut
• 1992: "500 Years Since Columbus", Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
• 1992: "Haudenosaunee Artists: A Common Heritage", Tower Fine Art Gallery, State University of New York, Brockport, New York
• 1992: "Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives", Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
• 1992–1994: "The Submuloc Show/Columbus Wohs", Atlatl, Phoenix, Arizona
• 1992–1993: "We, The Human Beings/27 Contemporary Native American Artists", College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, Ohio
• 1991–1992: Acknowledging Our Host: Communal Sources, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California
• 1991: America, Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, California
• 1991–1993: Our Land/Ourselves, University Art Gallery, State University of New York, Albany, Albany, New York
• 1991–1993: Shared Visions, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
• 1990: The Decade Show, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, New York
• 1987–1988: "Eight Native American Artists", Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
• 1985–1986: "The Extension of Tradition", Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
• 1979: "George C. Longfish Mary L. O'Neal: Works on Canvas", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California.

Solo Exhibitions

• 2008: "George Longfish a Retrospective" (2008), Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Missoula, Montana
• 1989: "George Longfish", Jennifer Pauls Gallery, Sacramento, California
• 1989: "George Longfish Paintings", LRC Gallery, College of the Siskiyous, Weed, California
• 1986: "Common Ground: New Works by George Longfish", Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York City, New York
• 1971: Second Unitarian Church, Chicago, Illinois
• San Francisco Art Institute, California
• Washington State University, Pullman
• University of Montana
• Yuba College, Woodland, California

Art Collections

• Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Hood Museum of Art

Awards and Honors

• Contemporary Indian Art Exhibition, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington (1974, Juror's grand Award; 1977, 1st place; 1980, 1st place)
• Heard Museum (1973)
• October ArtFest, Davis, California (1981, 1st place)