Why'd They Put That In A Museum?
Art. Objects. Museums. Ideas. Questions. What happens when you put things on display and invite people in to look? Have you ever seen art on display and wondered, “Why’d they put that in a museum?” Museum curator Sarah Lees and author Beth Bacon start each conversation with one item, in one specific museum. We explore the object, its history, and the cultural ideas surrounding it. In the end, that object takes on new meaning as listeners discover the fascinating reasons it ended up in a museum.
Why'd They Put That In A Museum?
Battle of Little Bighorn by Stephen Standing Bear, Part 2
This is the second episode of a two-part discussion of the Why'd They Put That In A Museum podcast. Beth Bacon, Sarah Lees, and guest speaker Christina Burke discuss a painting by Lakota artist Steven Standing Bear. The artwork is a large-scale painting of the Battle of the Greasy Grass, which is also known as Little Bighorn, or the Custer Battle of June 25th, 1876. (In the first part of this two-part discussion, they review the painting in detail.) In this episode, Christina explains the distinction between art museums and natural history museums, noting how historical and cultural attitudes impact the ways Indigenous artworks are viewed and categorized. The hosts talk about the provenance of Standing Bear's painting. This painting was created in South Dakota, moved to various collectors and galleries, and now resides in the Philbrook Museum of Art. The hosts discuss how cultural perceptions and institutional choices impact the way Native American art is displayed and understood. This is the second part of a two-part episode focusing on this extraordinary work of art and its artist.
© 2025 Why'd They Put That In A Museum podcast hosts Beth Bacon and Sarah Lees.
