Like few of his contemporaries, Norman Feder helped shape the study of American Indian art. In a career spanning four decades as hobbyist craftsman, author, curator, and editor, Feder contributed to the theoretical and methodological foundation of a discipline about to emerge from the narrow interests of museum anthropologists and devoted amateurs into public prominence and widespread appreciation.

Feder entered the field without the benefit of academic training, but with a profound firsthand knowledge of the importance of techniques for an understanding of Native American visual...