Mary Sully: A Reclamation

For decades, the work of Native American artist Mary Sully remained unseen by almost anyone beyond her family.

Historian Philip Deloria, Sully’s great-nephew, shares how a discovery in his family’s basement brought this great artist’s work to light.

Gallery view from Mary Sully: Native Modern. Five drawings with vibrant colors and geometric patterns line a wall.

Gallery view from Mary Sully: Native Modern in Gallery 746 North in the American Wing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. July 2024


Joanne Pillsbury and Laura Filloy Nadal standing in front of a female sculpture in the Ancient Americas galleries of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
Video
Join Joanne Pillsbury, Andrall E. Pearson Curator of Ancient American Art, and curator Laura Filloy Nadal, along with Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, and special guest Alejandro de Avila to celebrate the renovation and reopening of the Arts of the Ancient Americas galleries in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.
Joanne Pillsbury and Laura Filloy Nadal
July 17
Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez looks at a weaving in the Arts of the Ancient Americas textile gallery
Audio
“For me, living and producing textiles goes along with your life, along with your age, along with your everyday activity, that's why it is a living art, it’s not a piece that's from the past.”
July 14
Gilded copper owl secured to a silvered copper disk
Video
See a virtual reconstruction of this remarkable Moche shield.
May 28
More in:Native American and Indigenous Heritage

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Fiorello La Guardia (1882–1947), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, wax crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Eugene Field (1850–1895), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, wax crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, pastel crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Babe Ruth (1895–1948), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, wax crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Alice, Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, wax crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Lunt & Fontanne (Alfred Lunt, 1892–1977, and Lynn Louise Fontanne, 1887–1983), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, wax crayon, ink, and graphite on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Claudette Colbert (1903–1996), Mary Sully  Native American, Colored pencil, black ink, gilt, white paint, and pastel crayon on paper, Dakota
Mary Sully
ca. 1920s–40s
Portrait of the Artist, Thomas Sully  American, Oil on canvas, American
Thomas Sully
1821
Queen Victoria, Thomas Sully  American, Oil on canvas, American
Thomas Sully
1838
Mrs. John Biddle (Eliza Falconer Bradish), Thomas Sully  American, Oil on canvas, American
Thomas Sully
1818
Mrs. Katherine Matthews, Thomas Sully  American, Oil on canvas, American
Thomas Sully
1812–13