Native American art has been popular amongst Europeans ever since the discovery of the American continent. But it changed significantly since the Europeans interfered in the natural lifestyle of the Native Americans. Nowadays, the term "modern art" is very popular even when considering the traditional Native American art. Art is subject to changes when other things like social and political order, way of life, and environment are also changing.

There have been hot debates amongst scholars and art critics about when these changes occurred in Native American art. Some say the beginning was when the Native American artists started producing artworks to suit Western viewers. Others support the view that the Western media was the reason for Indian artists to become more popular and eventually be influenced by the European artistic mainstream. And the last group of critics claims that modernization began when some artists started using the modernistic methods and techniques in their own artworks. It is highly important to specify when exactly things changed, as the art production of the Native Americans unites in its essence the significant role that different ethnic background plays on the personal artistic development. A proper way we can use to examine the ethnic influence is by making a case study.

The artistic development of Angel DeCora, the famous Hochunk painter, illustrator and designer, can be the perfect way to explore the topic. DeCora was a well-known and a highly prolific artist. She became popular before the World War 1 but her career was in bloom somewhere in between the 20s and the 30s. She was a student of some leading European-American art teachers, so she was very influenced by the modern art. Anyway, she managed to stay true to her origin and created special paintings, few of which survived, and a lot of illustrations, using a combination of traditional Native American art and modernistic trends.

Even though a true assessment and evaluation of DeCora's artworks is hard to make as too many of them were lost throughout the years, her creative work was soaked up with the influence of Native American art. Several works are identified as hers: two illustrated stories for Harper's New Monthly Magazine, some illustrations published in Southern Workman, Indian Craftsman and American Indian Magazine, also the illustrations of five books. Her paintings are even harder to find- only three canvases can be pledged positively as hers. No matter how little survived, one thing can be said for sure about DeCora- her works were influenced by the Native American art, although more and more modern aspects can be found in her later canvases from the 20s and 30s. Perhaps as a reason can serve DeCora's mastery of European-American illustration, which made the natural influence from her ancestors grow weaker.

Nowadays, a true Native American art that intensely keeps the traditions is hard to find, and that is easily explained by the strong influence from the modern artistic mainstream. Despite this, ethnic background plays an important role for shaping the artist's view of life. Native American art will always be an inspiration for native Americans and won't be overshadowed by any artistic trend. Traditional art gives identity to the native American artist and cannot be substituted by any other form of expression.