Mary Sully – Native Modern – Drawings that Echo Her Dakota Heritage

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Charlene Giannetti in Playing Around

Mary Sully was born on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. Between the 1920s and the 1940s, she created intricate drawings that combine her Native American background with modern sensibilities. This first solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum includes recent acquisitions and loans from the Mary Sully Foundation.

Sully had no formal training and no one to support her work with include an estimated 200                     drawings. For the subjects for these vertical triptychs she chose Euro-American celebrities from many areas – popular culture, politics, and religion. She called these projects “personality prints,” each one reflecting various aspects of the person she focused on. 

Here are some of the drawings included in the exhibition:

Children of the Divorced

Sully, perhaps included by a magazine article about children of divorce, created this work that features chrysanthemums, daisies, roses, and tulips. This more hopeful world was undoubtedly one she hoped would at some time exist for these children.

Babe Ruth

If she was a baseball fan, her favorite player was probably Babe Ruth. She focused on the game’s diamond with geometric shapes representing the bases, pitcher’s mound, and stands.

Fred Astaire

Sully managed to capture the talent and grace of dance superstar Fred Astaire. The top section, although static, seems to move with Astaire’s quick footwork.

Claudette Colbert

Obviously a fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Sully devoted this triptych to Claudette Colbert. She places the star in the Christmas holiday with the figure at the top resembling a tree ornament.

Mary Sully – Native Modern
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Through January 12, 2025

Photos by Woman Around Town

About Charlene Giannetti (734 Articles)
Charlene Giannetti, editor of Woman Around Town, is the recipient of seven awards from the New York Press Club for articles that have appeared on the website. A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Charlene began her career working for a newspaper in Pennsylvania, then wrote for several publications in Washington covering environment and energy policy. In New York, she was an editor at Business Week magazine and her articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines. She is the author of 13 non-fiction books, eight for parents of young adolescents written with Margaret Sagarese, including "The Roller-Coaster Years," "Cliques," and "Boy Crazy." She and Margaret have been keynote speakers at many events and have appeared on the Today Show, CBS Morning, FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and many others. Her last book, "The Plantations of Virginia," written with Jai Williams, was published by Globe Pequot Press in February, 2017. Her podcast, WAT-CAST, interviewing men and women making news, is available on Soundcloud and on iTunes. She is one of the producers for the film "Life After You," focusing on the opioid/heroin crisis that had its premiere at WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, where it won two awards. The film is now available to view on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and other services. Charlene and her husband live in Manhattan.

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