Lecture on Modernism in Montana art well received

A small but enthusiastic audience enjoyed a lecture on Modernism in Montana art by MSU professor Dr. Michelle Corriel. Blaine County Museum Director Samantha French said she was pleased with the turnout and was looking forward to two future lectures scheduled for this fall. The lecture by Dr. Corriel was virtual, via the internet, and interactive. The two upcoming lecturers will be speaking live at the local museum.

Lecture focused on current Blackfeet tipis exhibit's creator

Dr. Corriel introduced information about Jessie Wilbur, an early art teacher at what would later become Montana State University-Bozeman, who also spearheaded the creation of the prints currently being exhibited at the county museum. Wilbur, herself a painter and trained in the new modernism techniques while a student at Colorado State University, introduced modernism to art students in the 1940's while teaching at MSU-Bozeman. Wilbur eventually became head of the art department at Bozeman and retired from the university in 1972.

A pioneer not just in art, Wilbur was one of the first female professors at the college. Sam French told, "When Jessie Wilbur came to the art department at MSU-Bozeman administrators were unsure where to have an office for her. She ended up in the home economics building, where most of the other female professor at that time (early 1940's) were housed."

Wilbur was also influential in organizing the Montana Institute of Arts in 1948. That group brought together like-minded individuals in art, music, literature, drama and history. The group would hold its annual meetings in places around the state not normally touched by "artsy" types. One of the annual gatherings in the 1950's was in Havre, including the culture of the Hi-Line in their outreach.

The Blackfeet Indian Tipis: Design and Legend exhibit

The prints in the current exhibit of Blackfeet tipi designs and legends at the museum were created in the mid-1940's by Jessie Wilbur along with her students and colleagues. The designs of the tipis were drawn by Olga Ross Hannon (also an art teacher at MSU) and Jessie Wilbur, then the images were made in to silk screen prints. The professors attended a major Blackfeet celebration and drew each design from the tipis they observed set up at the event.

The legends, accompanying each print, were collected and compiled by Cecile Black Boy. Each legend is the story of how a particular design began. Often the design would come to the first owners in a dream. The dream frequently included an animal telling the new owner how the tipi should look and also giving the new owner certain information for their future safety and success in life.

Although the prints show the 'pure' design without any blemishes or defects, in real life the tipis would often be stained at the top, from the smoke from cooking and heating fires inside the tent, and around the bottoms from mud and rain splatter. A tent was typically replaced about every two years and the repainting process followed a particular way of recreating the existing design on a new skin, or later on a new material. Early Spanish explorers noted tipis in use by plains Indians as early as 1599.

Modernism was not initially embraced by painters of Western art

Dr. Correil was asked if Charlie Russell's art was affected by the modernism movement in the state. She said, "I'm sure Charlie Russell was aware of modernism. However, he knew his bread and butter was the nostalgic Western art he was so successful at creating and selling. It would not have made sense for him to go to a style that had not yet gained popularity." Fact was, Jessie Wilbur and other modernist artists in Montana had trouble selling their paintings in the region. The acceptance of modernism by western artists and western patrons came later to the West.