Artwork copyright Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Rescue, 2002

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
American Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation Bitterroot Salish (Flathead) (born 1940, died 2025)

Location: University of Washington, Seattle

About the Artwork

Painter and printmaker Jaune Quick-to-See Smith references Tonto and the Lone Ranger in Rescue. The imagery demonstrates the polarizing beliefs and the struggles between Europeans and Native Americans. Quick-to-See Smith notes, “The Lone Ranger is a stand-in for the patriarchal U.S. government while Tonto represents the Indian Tribes who are treated like children. Since the 1960s, Indian law has done a lot to rescue the Tribes and encourage self-determination.” The Lone Ranger is a fictional character who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto.

This series is part of the Contemporary Native American Artwork Collection, on view at the University of Washington Gallagher Law Library. The collection was proposed by artist John Feodorov, who selected the eight represented artists for their rich and forward-thinking cultural expression. Speaking to the contemporary nature of this collection, Feodorov notes “since art, like law, is an ever evolving process, it cannot rely on nostalgia if it is to remain relevant.”

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with University of Washington.

About the Artist

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith grew up on the Flathead Nation in Montana in a home where art and horses were equally important. She traveled around the Pacific Northwest and California with her father, who was a horse trader. She graduated from Puyallup High School in Western Washington and earned an Associate of Arts degree at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington in 1960. She studied at the University of Washington before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Framingham State College in Massachusetts in 1976. She had to take many breaks from college to earn money but in 1980, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Art from the University of New Mexico. Quick-to-See Smith’s artworks are represented in many museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. She was the first Native American artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.