Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art – Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Dec 23, 2025 | Museum, USA: Indiana

The Eiteljorg Museum presents Native American art and Western American paintings, sculpture, and cultural history. 1217

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art: 500 W Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46204
Date Picture Taken: September 2025

The Eiteljorg Museum focuses on Native American art and the art of the American West. Its collections include traditional and contemporary Indigenous works, Western paintings and sculpture, and exhibitions exploring culture, history, and the evolving identity of the American frontier.

The museum is located next to White River State Park

Inside the museum

The Eiteljorg Museum opened in 1989, founded through the philanthropic vision of Harrison Eiteljorg. Created to highlight Native American and Western American art, it became one of the few museums in the U.S. dedicated to these fields, emphasizing both historical and contemporary perspectives.

The West in American Art

The Taos Society of Artists: Early Years

The Taos Society of Artists was a group of early 20th-century painters based in Taos, New Mexico. Active from 1915 to 1927, its members promoted Southwestern landscapes and Native American subjects, shaping the image of the American West.

Selling the West explores how artists, publishers, and promoters shaped popular images of the American West.

The Taos Society of Artists: Later Years

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe has long attracted artists drawn to its desert landscapes, light, and Indigenous cultures. In the early 20th century, painters and writers formed influential art colonies, blending Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo traditions to shape a distinctive Southwestern artistic identity.

Attitudes: The West in American Art

The Western Landscape in the 20th & 21st Centuries

Quest for the West 

A persistent West

New Art of the West

A Diverse West

Before “The Americans”

Exploring Art and the West

Responding to the Grandeur of the West

Frederic Remington, Charles Russel, and Their “Wild” West

Cowboys and Art

Illustrating the West