The Tale that the Crow Told

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, in paint, upper right: B[illegible script] 06; titled, in ink, on reverse, center: Four Paintings of the / Ceremony that Never Was #1; titled, in ink, on reverse, lower right: the Tale that / The Crow / Told; printed, in ink, on label affixed to reverse, lower right: The Tale That the Crow Told / Rick Bartow / acrylic on panel, polyptych 1 of 4 / 2006 / Inv # 1762 20 x 16"each, 20x64"polyptych / Froelick Gallery / 817 SW SECOND AVENUE, PORTLAND, OREGON 97204 / www.froelickgallery.com; inscribed, in ink, on reverse, bottom edge: FG 1762 LEFT 1/4

Label

Pilgrimage is not always about place. In Native American traditions, ceremony often describes the practice of traditional rituals tied to both body and spirit. Sacred events, ceremonies allow for spiritual transformations that may be interpreted as acts of metaphorical pilgrimage. The body may remain, but in a metaphysical sense, ritual allows individuals to enter new states and stages without changing physical location. Across these four paintings, Rick Bartow creates a liminal atmosphere and the sense that change is underway. The ghostly forms evoke movement and depict humans in states of transformation.

What power does pilgrimage have to transcend the material realm? Bartow found art, like pilgrimages and the traditional rituals that are his subject, to be a way of healing from the traumas of serving in the Vietnam War, saying, "I have drawn myself sane."

From the 2022 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 108, Journeys Beyond: Faces and Forms of Pilgrimage, curated by Emily Charland '19, Erbe Intern

Course History

ANTH 32, AMES 26, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Sienna Craig, Spring 2013

NAS 30.1, ARTH 17, Modern Native American Art History, Joyce Szabo, Summer 2013

SART 31, Painting II, Thomas Ferrara, Spring 2019

SART 25.01, Painting I, Enrico Riley, Winter 2020

SART 25, SART 31, Painting I, Painting II, Tom Ferrara, Summer 2021

SART 25.01, Painting I, Tom Ferrara, Fall 2021

SART 31/SART 72, Painting II/III, Tom Ferrara, Fall 2021

SART 76, Senior Seminar, Enrico Riley, Winter 2022

SART 31, SART 72, Painting II/III, Tom Ferrara, Summer 2022

SART 25.01, Painting I, Danielle Genadry, Summer 2022

Studio Art 31.01/72.01, Painting II/III, Jen Caine, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 108, Journeys Beyond: Faces and Forms of Pilgrimage, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire, August 27 - October 22, 2022.

Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.

Publication History

George P. Horse Capture, Sr., Joe D. Horse Capture, Joseph M. Sanchez, et al., Native American Art at Dartmouth: Hightlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. on p. 46 and p. 147, no. 43.

Provenance

Stonington Gallery, Seattle, Washington; sold to present collection, 2008.

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Subjects