New York Historical receives gift of 150 works by Indigenous artists

""I rarely use the term collecting and collector," Hsu-Tang says. "We both see ourselves as messengers... I don't own these works of art. I'm here to be a temporary steward of these messages, and to pass on-it's my duty to connect the past, the present and the future.""

""When people come to our museum and they're looking for American history and New York history, we kind of awaken in them knowledge and learning that likely is not expected, number one, and should be expected," Mirrer says. "People who might not find their way to the National Museum of the American Indian, but will naturally find their way to a museum around American history, especially this year, which is the 250th anniversary, will learn something that probably they didn't anticipate learning, but is important and essential American history.""

"Mirrer emphasises the institution's view of "art as a document", framing the collection as historical testimony as much as aesthetic achievement."

Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang donated 150 contemporary Native artworks to the New York Historical in Manhattan. The gift, coordinated by chief executive Louise Mirrer, coincides with the United States' 250th anniversary and represents the largest gift of Native art to a New York art institution since the founding of the Museum of the American Indian. The acquisition includes works by Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, T.C. Cannon, Cara Romero, Nampeyo of Hano, Maria Martinez, Angel De Cora and Zitkala-Ša. The donation is intended to integrate Native history into American history and treats artworks as historical testimony as well as aesthetic achievement.

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