Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Blue-chip#47
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
7/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
10/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
9/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
2/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
1/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
Auction Record
$642,600
I See Red: Talking to the Ancestors
Christie's New York, November 2022
- Pricing
- Note
- Depending on size and medium
- Overall Range
- $110 to $642,600 USD
- Liquidity
- Moderate to strong secondary market activity with regular auction appearances at major and regional houses. Works appear at Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and numerous regional auctions.
- Collector Base
- Institutional acquisitions by major museums, private collectors interested in Native American art, contemporary art collectors, and socially conscious collectors
- Auction History
- Date
- November 2022
- Work
- I See Red: Talking to the Ancestors
- Price
- $642,600
- Estimate
- $80,000-120,000 (sold 5x high estimate)
- Auction House
- Christie's New York
- Auction Volume
- Artnet Listings
- 197 artworks
- Recent Activity
- 27 auction results on Artsy (2024-2025)
- Artworks at Auction
- 194+ works (MutualArt)
- Market Trajectory
- 2020
- Four works sold, total $52,500 (year of National Gallery acquisition)
- 2022
- 26 works sold, annual turnover $1.14 million
- 2023
- Among top 300 most successful artists globally (Artprice ranking)
- 2024 2025
- Strong post-retrospective momentum, regular auction appearances
- Recent Significant Sales
- Detail
- Four canvases sold at over $400,000 each
- Period
- Since 2023
- Period
- Past 12 months (2024-2025)
- Painting Average
- $51,743
- Works on Paper Average
- $15,418
- Market Position
- Major market breakthrough following 2020 National Gallery acquisition and 2023 Whitney retrospective. Historically overlooked, now experiencing significant institutional and collector validation. Death in January 2025 likely to further strengthen market.
Institutional Presence
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Brooklyn Museum, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (first Native American painting on canvas, 2020)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Cleveland Museum of Art
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Denver Art Museum
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Missoula Art Museum, Montana
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe
Heard Museum, Phoenix
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
Glenstone Collection, Potomac, Maryland
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Detroit Institute of Arts
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
Museum of Modern Art, Quito, Ecuador
Museum of Mankind, Vienna, Austria
- Exhibitions
- Curated Exhibitions
- Over 30 exhibitions, including Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar, and Sage (1985, with Harmony Hammond), Contemporary Native American Photography (1984)
- Solo Exhibitions Count
- Over 50 solo exhibitions in U.S. and internationally
- Museum Collections
- Awards and Recognition
- Women's Caucus for the Arts Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters Grant (1996)Wallace Stegner Award for Art of the American West (1995)Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art (1999)College Art Association Women's Award (2002)New Mexico Governor's Outstanding New Mexico Woman's Award (2005)New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (Allan Houser Memorial Award, 2005)Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Living Artist of Distinction Award (2012)New Mexico Women's Hall of Fame (2014)United States Artists fellowship (2020)American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (2021)Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2022)Artists' Legacy Foundation Artist Award (2023)
Career & Biography
- Career
- Five-decade career (mid-1970s to 2025) as visual artist, curator, activist, and educator. Founded the Grey Canyon group of contemporary Native American artists. Over 50 solo exhibitions and curated more than 30 exhibitions. First Native American artist to have a solo retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2023) and first artist to curate an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (2023). Corrales, New Mexico (near Rio Grande and Albuquerque)
- Identity
- Early Life
- Raised in poverty on Flathead Reservation by her father, a horse trader. Had an itinerant childhood across Pacific Northwest and California. Worked alongside migrant workers in Seattle farming community (ages 8-15). Name 'Jaune' (yellow in French) reflects Métis ancestry; 'Quick-to-See' given by Shoshone grandmother signifying keen observation.
- Birth Location
- St. Ignatius Indian Mission, Flathead Reservation, Montana
- Death Location
- Corrales, New Mexico
- Tribal Affiliation
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation (enrolled Salish member), also Métis and Shoshone descent
- Artistic Context
- Self-described 'cultural arts worker.' Work examines contemporary life in America through Native ideology, addressing environmental destruction, war, genocide, and historical misrepresentation. Uses art as activism and storytelling to preserve Native cultures and challenge stereotypes.
Artistic Profile
- Evolution
- Critical Reception Evolution
- Initially criticized for being 'retardataire' in use of modernisms (unfairly). Gradual recognition through 1990s-2000s. Major institutional validation 2020-2023 (National Gallery acquisition, Whitney retrospective). Now recognized as major figure deserving place in contemporary art canon. Market catching up to critical recognition.
- Influences
- Robert Rauschenberg (collage and mixed media)Jasper Johns (maps, flags, American imagery)Pablo Picasso (collage, fragmentation)Paul Klee (abstraction, symbolism)Abstract ExpressionismPop Art (Warhol, commercial imagery)Neo-ExpressionismTraditional Native American art and symbolism
- Themes and Subjects
- Signature Motifs
- Maps (U.S., state, conceptual)Horses and buffaloCanoes (symbol of trade and transportation)Red color (Indigenous ceremony, anger, 'redskin' stereotype)Commercial logos and slogansNewspaper clippingsPetroglyphs and Indigenous symbolsDesert landscapesMedicine wheels
- Movements and Periods
- Innovative Contributions
- Fusing Indigenous and modernist aestheticsUsing collage as political weaponMapping as Indigenous epistemology vs. geopolitical divisionArt as activism and cultural preservationMentoring and promoting other Native artistsChallenging museum practices and canons
- Techniques and Mediums
- Mixed media: oil, acrylic, collage, assemblageIncorporation of newspapers, fabrics, commercial imageryPrintmaking (lithography, monoprints)Sculptural assemblagesAppropriation of Western art historical referencesLayering technique as metaphor for investigating visibility
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Catalogue Raisonne
- No comprehensive catalogue raisonné published, though Whitney retrospective catalogue provides extensive documentation
- Critical Positioning
- Recognized as one of most influential contemporary Native American artists and pioneering woman artist. Breaking down 'buckskin ceiling.' Critical discourse emphasizes hybrid modernist-Indigenous aesthetic, political activism, and role as cultural arts worker.
- Publications and Media
- Major Publications
Title Date Author Publication — January 1993 — Artforum Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Maps New Meanings December 2, 2021 Joshua Hunt New York Times — 1990 Lucy Lippard — Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map 2023 — —
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
- Art Basel Miami Beach (2025, Stephen Friedman Gallery)Frieze Sculpture (2025, Stephen Friedman Gallery)London Gallery Weekend (2025)
- Representation
- Historical Representation
- Kornblee Gallery, New York (1979)Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York (1984, 1990)Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York (1992, 1995, 1998)Marilyn Butler Fine Art, Santa Fe and Scottsdale (1980s)LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe (1990s-2000s)Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago (2000, 2002)
- Geographic Reach
- Current Availability
- Works available through estate galleries (Garth Greenan, Stephen Friedman), secondary market auctions, and regional galleries including Turner Carroll Gallery, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, LewAllen Galleries (Santa Fe)
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