Like historical fiction, drama of the Southwest has been less
dramatic than actuality and less realistic than real
characters. Lynn Riggs of Oklahoma, author of _Green Grow the
Lilacs_, has so far been the most successful dramatist.
_34_
Miscellaneous Interpreters and Institutions
ARTISTS
ART MAY BE SUBSTANTIVE, but more than being its own excuse for
being, it lights up the land it depicts, shows people what is
significant, cherishable in their own lives and environments.
Thus Peter Hurd of New Mexico has revealed windmills, Thomas
Hart Benton of Missouri has elevated mules. Nature may not
literally follow art, but human eyes follow art and literature
in recognizing nature.
The history of art in the Southwest, if it is ever rightly
written, will not bother with the Italian "Holy Families"
imported by agent-guided millionaires trying to buy
exclusiveness. It will begin with clay (Indian pottery), horse
hair (vaquero weaving), hide (vaquero plaiting), and horn
(backwoods carving). It will note Navajo sand painting and
designs in blankets.
Charles M. Russell's art has been characterized in the chapter
on "Range Life.
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