Faculty Talk – The Unknown “Hollywood Indian” Paintings of Kathryn Woodman Leighton
November 6 All day
Free
Palmer Museum of Art
814-865-7673
palmerinfo@psu.edu
Primarily known for her portraits of Blackfeet people commissioned by the Great Northern Railroad, like the painting Wife and Child of Bull Plume (Maggie Bull Plume) currently on exhibit at the Palmer Museum of Art, Kathryn Woodman Leighton was also part of the vibrant Los Angeles art scene. She painted a number of Indigenous entertainers in LA colloquially know as “Hollywood Indians.” These paintings, many held in private collections, are an overlooked part of her oeuvre. Professor Cathleen Cahill will discuss how those portraits reveal a broader picture of Native American life in the early twentieth century as well as Leighton’s connection to the art scene in the city.