Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors, at Akron

Terms like heroic, powerful, epic, generational talent, wonderful use of color, funny, exultant, detailed and thoughtful all might come to mind when viewing the exhibition Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors on view at the Akron Art Museum through August 16, 2026. Kent Monkman (b. 1965) is a member of ocêkwi sipiy (Fisher River Cree Nation) in Treaty 5 Territory, Manitoba. As a press release says with accurate enthusiasm, “Monkman reimagines the genre of history painting to confront colonial narratives and offer urgent new perspectives on the past and present.” The show was organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Denver Art Museum. Akron Art Museum is its only tour stop in the Midwest.

The exhibition in Akron includes “seemingly” countless paintings mostly done on an epic scale that not only retell through an Indigenous lens history like government policies on Indigenous peoples and intergenerational trauma, but also more contemporary issues like climate change, and the affirmation of Two-Spirit, queer, and trans Indigenous experiences. The show is a tour de force of emotion, concepts, color, line, and the gift of seeing what talented visual artists can do with their own power.

‘History painting’ is a term that was introduced by the French Royal Academy in the 1600s to describe large-scale paintings with historical, mythological, or biblical subjects. Think of works like the 1851 oil painting by German American artist Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, in which the General is shown standing near the bow of a boat as he leads his troops to surprise the British. Monkman creates works that call on this style of painting to retell history through an Indigenous lens. Using his gender-fluid alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, as a focal point or important aspect of many of his paintings. Monkman seeks to shed light on the colonial gaze and to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples.

Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors is laid out through the largest part of the museum’s rotational exhibition spaces. Works from throughout the artist’s career are featured, along with—importantly–a work that sheds some light on the artist’s process. The painting, Les Castors du roi ( The King’s Beavers), is a 2011 acrylic on canvas in which Monkman pokes fun at King Louis XV, who commissioned many paintings of exotic French colonial hunting scenes but excluded any examples of the North American fur trade that was central to the economy of New France. The mass culling of amiskwak (beavers)–still of spiritual and ecological importance for many Indigenous nations to this day–for their pelts to meet European demand caused widespread ecological devastation. It is fact that we are still working to recover from the slaughter all these hundreds of years later.

The painting features beavers fighting for their lives against French trappers and indigenous people. Looking on are what appear to be French clergy and French businessmen. The beavers can be seen praying for salvation, packed and stacked on a canoe while the spirit of beavers float up into the heavens. It’s obviously a work that features a sense of humor but at the same time gives keen insights into the plight of what is an extremely important animal in North America. Shown alongside the painting are multiple studies that lead up to the final work. A small graphite drawing, and a watercolor along with a small acrylic study for the larger work are shown too. You can see how the artist’s ideas change through their process. It’s wonderful to be able to see what the artist felt was working and not working before the final piece was made.

History is Painted by the Victors, is a 2013 acrylic on canvas, re-creating a landscape imagined and painted by artist Albert Bierstadt in the 1800s. In this work Monkman features Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, entertaining Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment he led. Miss Chief is seen painting at an easel in the nude, except for red thigh-high boots. The backdrop includes an epic scene of snow-capped mountains, clouds, and a mountain lake, where Miss Chief stands on the beach. Custer’s men are nude and can be seen swimming, boxing, lying in the sun while their horses graze nearby. On Miss Chief’s easel, we see a reference to Lakhóta artist Red Horse’s drawing of the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn), where Indigenous warriors defeated and killed Custer.

The incredible detail of this work ultimately helps to point a finger at the history that was originally told about Custer and reframe it. Not just through an “on the nose” representation of something fictitious but because through the realism of this work, like a manipulated photograph, we are brought up short on our instant understanding and forced to reconsider what we are thinking. Monkman’s realistic change of historic perception is an incredibly powerful tool.

The Deluge, is a 2019 acrylic on canvas that recognizes the pain of individuals who have experienced the residential and boarding school systems. In the painting, Miss Chief can be seen holding the hand of a man while dangling off a rock. Clinging to her are two small children. Situated on the rock, look to be children’s parents reaching out in the hopes of rescuing them. Miss Chief has a sad and stricken look on her face while also appearing incredibly strong in the assistance of the children. It’s a shocking and solemn image full of movement and color.

Heroic, powerful, epic, justly describe this exhibition. However, these terms may actually be understating the quality of what is on display here. It’s just that good. It’s certainly worth everyone’s time to drive to Akron and see this exhibit before it leaves in mid-August.

Kent Monkman: History Is Painted by the Victors
April 11 – August 17, 2026
Akron Art Museum
One South High
Akron, OH 44308
330.376.9186
AkronArtMuseum.org