Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Art Bridges Foundation in Bentonville, Arkansas, have acquired 90 works of contemporary Native art from the John and Susan Horseman Collection. The acquisition includes pieces by prominent Indigenous artists such as Kent Monkman, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kay WalkingStick, and Cannupa Hanska Luger. Nine works will go to Crystal Bridges, while the remaining 81 will join Art Bridges' collection, which now totals around 250 works, with Native art making up a third. The works will be displayed in upcoming exhibitions at the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and Crystal Bridges' expanded campus, with loans to partner institutions planned.
This acquisition matters because it represents a significant step in addressing the underrepresentation of Native American art in U.S. museums. Crystal Bridges' holdings of Native art previously numbered only about 120 works, or 3 percent of its total collection. Acquisitions of Indigenous art at this scale remain rare, with the last comparable one being the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2017 gift of 91 works from the Diker Collection. The Horseman acquisition signals a growing institutional commitment to integrating Indigenous perspectives into American art narratives, with Art Bridges emphasizing long-term, reciprocal community relationships rather than token representation.