Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (born 1940) is a Salish-Kootenai artist from the Flathead Reservation in Montana who became one of the founding figures of the contemporary Native American art movement and a major force in American art more broadly. She has had deep ties to New Mexico throughout her career, exhibiting in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and maintaining close relationships with the artists and institutions of the Southwest. Her mixed-media paintings combine gestural abstraction, stenciled text, found imagery, and political commentary to address land rights, Native sovereignty, environmental destruction, and the ongoing legacies of colonialism — often with dark wit. She has also served as a crucial curator and organizer, founding the Coup Marks artist group and working for decades to bring Native American artists to national attention. Her work is held in the collections of the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and dozens of other major institutions.