# George Longfish

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{{short description|First Nations artist and museum director}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = George Chester Longfish
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1942|08|22}}
| birth_place        = Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
| citizenship        = [Six Nations of the Grand River](/source/Six_Nations_of_the_Grand_River) and [Canada](/source/Canada)
| alma_mater         = [School of the Art Institute of Chicago](/source/School_of_the_Art_Institute_of_Chicago)
| occupation         = Artist, professor, museum director
| employer           = [University of California, Davis](/source/University_of_California%2C_Davis),<br> [C.N. Gorman Museum](/source/C.N._Gorman_Museum)
}}
'''George Chester Longfish'''<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=George Chester Longfish|url=https://www.artic.edu/artists/57165/george-chester-longfish|access-date=2021-09-12|website=The Art Institute of Chicago|language=en}}</ref> (born August 22, 1942) is a [First Nations](/source/First_Nations_in_Canada) artist, professor, and museum director.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Murg|first=Wilhelm|date=May 5, 2004|title=An Interview with Artist George Longfish|url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/an-interview-with-artist-george-longfish|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Indian Country Today|language=en}}</ref> His art work blends [Pop art](/source/Pop_art) with Indigenous motifs, and often features [assemblage](/source/Assemblage_(art)).<ref name="decordova">{{Cite web|title=George Longfish {{!}} deCordova|url=https://decordova.org/george-longfish|access-date=2020-03-02|website=decordova.org}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Albright|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C|title=Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980: An Illustrated History|date=1985-01-01|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05193-5|pages=295|language=en}}</ref> Many of his works have been featured in major public museum exhibitions, including the [Heard Museum](/source/Heard_Museum), and the Smithsonian's [National Museum of the American Indian](/source/National_Museum_of_the_American_Indian).<ref name=":4" /> He was a professor of [Native American Studies](/source/Native_American_Studies) at the [University of California, Davis](/source/University_of_California%2C_Davis) (U.C. Davis), for almost 30 years.<ref name=":1" /> He served as the museum director at the [C.N. Gorman Museum](/source/C.N._Gorman_Museum) at U.C. Davis, from 1974 to 1996.

== Biography ==
Longfish was born on August 22, 1942, in [Ohsweken, Ontario](/source/Ohsweken%2C_Ontario), Canada,<ref name="decordova" /> he is from the [Seneca](/source/Seneca_people) and [Tuscarora](/source/Tuscarora_people) tribes.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|title=Modern Times, 1994|url=https://www.naaer.hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/northeast-woodlands/histories-identities/work-3|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Hood Museum of Art, Native American Art Teacher Resources|language=en-US}}</ref> Ohsweken is a village on the [Six Nations on the Grand River](/source/Six_Nations_of_the_Grand_River) First Nation Indian Reserve. Longfish's mother left him and his brother when he was five years old. His mother took Longfish and his brother to the [Thomas Indian School](/source/Thomas_Indian_School). At this school, Longfish and his brother had to take care of farm animals, slaughter them, and many agrarian tasks. As a child, Longfosh admired modern artists such as [Frank Stella](/source/Frank_Stella) and [Arshile Gorky](/source/Arshile_Gorky).<ref name="decordova" /> Longfish expressed in many of his paintings on how he endured his mother leaving him and how he slowly drifted away from his culture. Longfish and his brother were at the school for nine years. After the nine years of being separated from their mother, Longfish and his brother became alienated from their culture. Eventually, the school closed and Longfish and his brother moved back with their mother in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/an-interview-with-artist-george-longfish-poyZvimsQ0yQArvtAAkvZA|title=An Interview with Artist George Longfish|website=Maven|date=12 September 2018 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> He attended [Tuley High School](/source/Tuley_High_School) in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/yearning-balance-%E2%80%94-visiting-artist-george-c-longfishs-art-prompts-questions|title=A yearning for balance — visiting artist George C. Longfish's art prompts questions {{!}} Office of Public Affairs {{!}} University of Southern Maine|website=usm.maine.edu|access-date=2020-03-03|archive-date=2021-09-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912025050/https://usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/yearning-balance-%E2%80%94-visiting-artist-george-c-longfishs-art-prompts-questions|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Longfish earned his [Bachelor of Fine Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Fine_Arts) degree (1970) and his [Master of Fine Arts](/source/Master_of_Fine_Arts) degree (1972) at the [School of the Art Institute of Chicago](/source/School_of_the_Art_Institute_of_Chicago).<ref name=":5" /> During his time in college, Longfish was known as an "angry artist" as he expressed his anger and pain in his art. He used his arts to express how the colonists had truly changed the indigenous people's way of living.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/artist-george-longfish-shares-his-healing-message-usm-students|title=Artist George Longfish shares his healing message with USM students {{!}} Office of Public Affairs {{!}} University of Southern Maine|website=usm.maine.edu|access-date=2020-03-03|archive-date=2020-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218212725/https://usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/artist-george-longfish-shares-his-healing-message-usm-students|url-status=dead}}</ref> Longfish's art style consisted of stenciled text, pictures of indigenous people, and a variety of bright colors. 

In 1972, the graduate program in American Indian Arts at the [University of Montana](/source/University_of_Montana) was founded and managed by Longfish.  

From 1973 until 2003, Longfish was a member of the faculty at the University of California, Davis' Native American Studies Department. He was added to the faculty when [Carl Nelson Gorman](/source/Carl_Nelson_Gorman) had retired. In addition, Longfish served as the director of the C. N. Gorman Museum at the University of California Davis,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Opening Reception: George Longfish: Indian on Indian|url=https://usm.maine.edu/gallery/george-longfish-indian-indian-0|access-date=2020-03-03|website=University of Southern Maine, USM Art Galleries Gorham and Portland|archive-date=2019-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209080139/https://usm.maine.edu/gallery/george-longfish-indian-indian-0|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Native American Artist to Lecture on Tuesday|url=https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/native-american-artist-to-lecture-on-tuesday|access-date=2021-09-15|website=Hamilton College|language=en}}</ref> from 1974 to 1996. In the mid-1970s Longfish was active in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene.<ref name=":5" />

In 2003, Longfish retired as a professor and began making an art studio. Longfish lives in [South Berwick, Maine](/source/South_Berwick%2C_Maine), and has a studio at [Rollinsford, New Hampshire](/source/Rollinsford%2C_New_Hampshire).<ref name="decordova" />

== Artworks ==
Longfish has dedicated his life to making artwork. He is known internationally throughout the world. His paintings often include text and bright colors. Despite having bright colors, his artwork shows the pain and anger throughout his life that he had endured. Many of Longfish's artwork, deal with the current issues of Indigenous people.<ref name=decordova/>

=== ''As Above So Below'' ===
[[File:As Above So Below, 1997, George Longfish at NGA 2023.jpeg|thumb|right|''As Above So Below'' (1997) at the [National Gallery of Art](/source/National_Gallery_of_Art) in 2023]]

Longfish's ''As Above So Below'' portrays a black-and-white painted Pawnee chief sitting next to a cheeseburger. The background features bright colors with words such as ''truth'', ''honor'', ''earth'', ''respect'', ''below'', ''honesty'', ''lies'', ''air'', ''reincarnation'', and ''fire''. The painting also has the year ''1997'' written on it and the word ''water ''flipped upside down. That year Brazil became the world's biggest export of beef for fast-food. Therefore, people would destroy nature just to export fast food products. In addition, the words on the painting, such as the upside-down water, also symbolize how Indigenous values have been flipped upside down due to colonization. From what the viewer can see, Longfish paints this painting to try to express how he had to forget many of his cultural beliefs as he grew up and how they should not be forgotten.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Ellis|first=Simone|date=2007|title=Knock, knockPowerful Native American art, including the gripping work of George Longfish, asks the question: Who's here?|url=https://missoulian.com/entertainer/knock-knockpowerful-native-american-art-including-the-gripping-work-of/article_4ee3b043-e3b6-5395-b864-ae7134e64455.html|access-date=2020-03-03|website=missoulian.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== ''Spirit'' ===
In this painting ''Spirit'', Longfish paints a Pawnee chief in black and white once again. However, this time, the date he was born on is painted on the artwork. In addition, many phrases such as "Honoring women family children our histories memories", "broken treaties", "toxic waste dump", "genocide" and "disease" are written in the background.  This painting symbolizes how colonists came to America and laid waste to many of the tribes.  Colonists often made treaties with indigenous people, only to break them later. Also, they destroyed nature by building there factories and houses that all excreted toxic chemicals.  Many of these colonists also brought diseases along with them, killing many indigenous people. As the viewer examines the painting, one can tell Longfish paints this painting to show how colonists have changed the way of living for indigenous people and caused many children to lose their parents and families to war or sickness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mmaracuja.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/george-longfish/|title=George Longfish (b.1942)|last=sofia|date=2014-11-07|website=contemporary arts americas tbc...|language=en|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

=== ''Lightly Salted'' ===
The mixed-media ''Lightly Salted'' (1990) features [Land O'Lakes](/source/Land_O'Lakes) "lightly salted" butter packaging with images of "Mia" the Native woman. Above the butter packaging is a bright red church and angels, painted much like a [Guna](/source/Gu%E1%B9%87a) [mola](/source/Mola_(art_form)). Brilliantly colored arrows and zigzags flare outward, including ones cut from reflective metallic paper. The artist statement explains, "This artwork is a political statement of a people who have endured and survived."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/indian_humor/exhibit/22.htm|title=NMAI Indian Humor: George Longfish|website=americanindian.si.edu|access-date=2020-03-03|archive-date=2020-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218212715/https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/indian_humor/exhibit/22.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Group exhibitions ==
* 1994: "Cultural Contrasts", [Stamford Museum and Nature Center](/source/Stamford_Museum_%26_Nature_Center), Stamford, Connecticut<ref>{{Cite news|last=Zimmer|first=William|date=1994-01-09|title=Art: A Fresh Look at a Clash of Cultures|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/09/nyregion/art-a-fresh-look-at-a-clash-of-cultures.html|access-date=2021-09-12|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
*1992: "500 Years Since Columbus", [Triton Museum of Art](/source/Triton_Museum_of_Art), Santa Clara, California<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Abbott|first=Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IL7JgxKWNUwC&q=george+longfish+500+years+since+columbus&pg=PP225|title=I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists|date=1994|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-1037-0|language=en}}</ref>
* 1992: "Haudenosaunee Artists: A Common Heritage", Tower Fine Art Gallery, State University of New York, Brockport, New York<ref>{{Cite book|last=Canada)|first=Reesa (Concordia University Greenberg, Montreal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4FS6w4NOVIC&q=george+longfish+Tower+Fine+Art+Gallery+new+york&pg=PP502|title=Thinking about Exhibitions|date=1996|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-11590-2|language=en}}</ref>
* 1992: "Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives", Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canadianart.ca/essays/9-group-exhibitions-that-defined-contemporary-indigenous-art/|title=9 Group Exhibitions That Defined Contemporary Indigenous Art|last=Hill|first=Richard William|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref>
* 1992–1994: "The Submuloc Show/Columbus Wohs", Atlatl, Phoenix, Arizona<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fear-Segal|first1=Jacqueline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gzo9y54SveYC&q=george+longfish+atlatl+phoenix&pg=PA13|title=Indigenous Bodies: Reviewing, Relocating, Reclaiming|last2=Tillett|first2=Rebecca|date=2013-10-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-4822-0|language=en}}</ref>
* 1992–1993: "We, The Human Beings/27 Contemporary Native American Artists", College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, Ohio<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://5019.sydneyplus.com/Heard_Museum_ArgusNET_Final/Portal/Portal.aspx?component=AAAM&record=66440ece-6f4a-4e8c-b804-351f4279074e|title=George Longfish|website=Heard Museum {{!}} ARGUS.net (Final)|language=en|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref>
* 1991–1992: ''Acknowledging Our Host: Communal Sources'', [Richmond Art Center](/source/Richmond_Art_Center), Richmond, California<ref name=":3" />
* 1991: ''America'', Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, California<ref name=":3" />
* 1991–1993: ''Our Land/Ourselves'', University Art Gallery, [State University of New York, Albany](/source/University_at_Albany%2C_SUNY), Albany, New York<ref name=":3" />
* 1991–1993: ''Shared Visions'', Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heard.org/|title=Heard Museum {{!}} Advancing American Indian Art|website=Heard Museum|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref>
* 1990: ''The Decade Show'', New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, New York<ref name=":3" />
* 1987–1988: "Eight Native American Artists", [Fort Wayne Museum of Art](/source/Fort_Wayne_Museum_of_Art), Fort Wayne, Indiana<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Glazer-Danay|first1=Richard|title=8 Native American artists: [exhibition] November 14, 1987-January 10, 1988, Fort Wayne Museum of Art.|last2=Brody|first2=J. J|last3=Kass|first3=Emily|last4=Fort Wayne Museum of Art|date=1987|publisher=The Museum|location=Fort Wayne, Ind.|language=English|oclc=18569863}}</ref>
* 1985–1986: "The Extension of Tradition", [Crocker Art Museum](/source/Crocker_Art_Museum), Sacramento, California<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockerart.org/press/whenirememberiseered-2|title="When I Remember I See Red" Emphasizes American Indian Art, Activism|website=Crocker Art Museum|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref>
* 1979: "George C. Longfish Mary L. O'Neal: Works on Canvas", [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art), San Francisco, California.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Examiner {{!}} |first=Garth Grimball {{!}} Special to The |date=2024-03-15 |title=Lovelace O'Neal on display at SFMOMA |url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/culture/museums-and-galleries/painter-mary-lovelace-o-neal-returns-to-sfmoma-after-45-years-with-solo-exhibition/article_c24784fa-e249-11ee-a92a-ebff3713a31c.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=San Francisco Examiner |language=en}}</ref>

== Solo exhibitions ==
* 2008: "George Longfish a Retrospective" (2008), Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Missoula, Montana<ref>{{Cite journal|last=University of Montana--Missoula. Office of University Relations|date=2007-02-27|title=George Longfish traveling exhibition opens at UM museum|url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/newsreleases/20198|journal=University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present}}</ref>
*1989: "George Longfish", Jennifer Pauls Gallery, Sacramento, California<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Besaw|first1=Mindy N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kuN8DwAAQBAJ&q=george+longfish+jennifer+paul+gallery&pg=PA195|title=Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now|last2=Hopkins|first2=Candice|last3=Well-Off-Man|first3=Manuela|date=2018-10-01|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|isbn=978-1-61075-654-9|language=en}}</ref>
* 1989: "George Longfish Paintings", LRC Gallery, [College of the Siskiyous](/source/College_of_the_Siskiyous), Weed, California<ref name=":3" />
*1986: "Common Ground: New Works by George Longfish", Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York City, New York<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gaze|first=Delia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVOPnrEcKKsC&q=george+longfish+bernice+steinbaum+gallery&pg=PA624|title=Concise Dictionary of Women Artists|date=2013-04-03|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-59901-9|language=en}}</ref>
*1971: Second Unitarian Church, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="lester" />
*[San Francisco Art Institute](/source/San_Francisco_Art_Institute), California<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Weiffenbach|first=Jean-Edith|date=1994|title=West-Coast- What Bay Area?|journal=Art Journal|volume=53|issue=3|pages=46–58|issn=0004-3249|jstor=777429}}</ref>
*Washington State University, Pullman<ref name="lester">Lester 324–25</ref>
* University of Montana<ref name=lester/>
* Yuba College, Woodland, California<ref name=lester/>

== Collections ==
* [Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture](/source/Northwest_Museum_of_Arts_and_Culture)
*[Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago)<ref name=":2" />
*[Hood Museum of Art](/source/Hood_Museum_of_Art)<ref name=":6" />

== Awards ==
* Contemporary Indian Art Exhibition, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington (1974, Juror's grand Award; 1977, 1st; 1980, 1st)<ref name=lester/><ref>Lester, 673</ref>
* [Heard Museum](/source/Heard_Museum) (1973)<ref name=lester/>
* October ArtFest, Davis, California (1981, 1st)<ref name=lester/>

== Publications ==
* {{Cite book|last=Morris|first=Kate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aOPNGAAACAAJ|title=George Longfish: A Retrospective|publisher=University of Montana Press|others=Montana Museum of Art & Culture|year=2007|isbn=9780975400968|location=Missoula, MT|type=exhibition catalog|oclc=123129873}}<ref name="lester" />

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{Cite book|last=Lester|first=Patrick David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFVyQgAACAAJ|title=The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1995|isbn=0-8061-9936-9|oclc=34721611}}

== External links ==
* https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/indian_humor/ecu/longfish.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218212717/https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/indian_humor/ecu/longfish.htm |date=2020-02-18 }}
* https://mmaracuja.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/george-longfish/
* [https://missoulian.com/entertainer/knock-knockpowerful-native-american-art-including-the-gripping-work-of/article_4ee3b043-e3b6-5395-b864-ae7134e64455.html "Knock, knock. Powerful Native American art, including the gripping work of George Longfish, asks the question: Who's here?"], Missoulian

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longfish, George}}
Category:1942 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century Haudenosaunee people
Category:21st-century Haudenosaunee people
Category:First Nations painters
Category:People from the County of Brant
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
Category:Seneca people
Category:Tuscarora people
Category:University of California, Davis faculty
Category:Six Nations of the Grand River people
Category:Haudenosaunee artists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [George Longfish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Longfish) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Longfish?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.