The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented color woodcut depicts a figure in profile facing left. They wear a tan wolf pelt headdress with a blue nose, and red paint masks their mouth and cheek. A floral neckerchief and beaded choker sit above a black vest and an orange wrap with blue stripes. Green dots within red circles fill the purple background. Color test squares and signatures mark the margins of the cream-colored paper.

His Hair Flows like a River

c. 1978

T. C. Cannon

(Kiowa-Caddo, 1946–1978)
carver

Maeda Kentaro

(Japanese, c. 1891–1987)
printer

Matashiro Uchikawa

(Japanese, active 1900s)
publisher

Aberbach Fine Art

(New York)
America
color woodcut
Image: 49.3 x 40 cm (19 7/16 x 15 3/4 in.); Sheet: 64.3 x 50.3 cm (25 5/16 x 19 13/16 in.)
Partial purchase from the Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund and partial gift from Stephen Dull 2025.5.5
© Estate of T. C. Cannon
Location: 101B Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

T. C. Cannon studied with Native American painter Fritz Scholder while a student at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Description

One of the most highly sought-after Indigenous artists, Cannon was a talented painter and an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe. His distinct portraits of Native subjects, infused with a bright color palette and drawing from a Pop aesthetic, combine both traditional and contemporary aesthetic traditions. The group in its entirety gives an overview of the artist’s unique visual vocabulary and investigations into the nuance and complexity of Indigenous identity. Each print is based on a major painting in the artist’s oeuvre.
  • ?–?
    Auerback Fine Art, New York, NY
    ?–2025
    (Zaplin Lampert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
  • still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-June 7, 2026).
  • {{cite web|title=His Hair Flows like a River|url=false|author=T. C. Cannon, Maeda Kentaro, Matashiro Uchikawa, Aberbach Fine Art|year=c. 1978|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.5.5