Kategoria BISAC: Art >> Indigenous Art of the Americas

Baskets made of baleen, the fibrous substance found in the mouths of plankton-eating whales--a malleable and durable material that once had commercial uses equivalent to those of plastics today--were first created by Alaska Natives in the early years of the twentieth century. Because they were made for the tourist trade, they were initially disdained by scholars and collectors, but today they have joined other art forms as a highly prized symbol of native identity. Baskets of exquisite workmanship, often topped with fanciful ivory carvings, have been created for almost a century,...

What makes Northwest Coast Native American art authentic? And why, when most of art history is a history of the avant-garde, is tradition so deeply valued by contemporary Native American artists and their patrons? In Privileging the Past, Judith Ostrowitz approaches these questions through a careful consideration of replicas, reproductions, and creative translations of past forms of Northwest Coast dances, ceremonies, masks, painted screens, and houses.

Ostrowitz examines several different art forms--two very different architectural constructions, a dance performance, and...

Bill Holm is internationally recognized as a leading expert on Northwest Coast, Plateau, and Plains Indian art. As curator emeritus of Native American art at the Burke Museum, professor emeritus of art history at the University of Washington, and author of numerous books and articles, including the classic work Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, he has established an unparalleled reputation as a scholar, teacher, and craftsman. For many years he has also produced detailed paintings that draw on his ethnographic expertise to recreate the settings in which the old Native...

The art of the Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Alaska ranks among the most sophisticated and spectacular art traditions of the world. While Haida art has long been recognized as central to the development of the highly formalized northern Northwest Coast style of design, it has often been viewed as somewhat static and anonymous. Robin K. Wright highlights for the first time the distinctive achievements of several of the most important Northern Haida artists and analyzes the art historical developments and stylistic changes in pole carving.

Northern Haida Master...

Don Smith - or Lelooska, as he was usually called - was a prominent Native American artist and storyteller in the Pacific Northwest. Born in 1933 of "mixed blood" Cherokee heritage, he was adopted as an adult by the prestigious Kwakiutl Sewid clan and had relationships with elders from a wide range of tribal backgrounds. Initially producing curio items for sale to tourists and regalia for Oregon Indians, Lelooska emerged in the late 1950s as one of a handful of artists who proved crucial to the renaissance of Northwest Coast Indian art. He also developed into a supreme...

Whether painted by artist-warriors depicting their feats in battle or by other Native American artists, 19th and 20th century ledger drawings--drawn on blank sheets of ledger books obtained from U.S. soldiers, traders, missionaries, and reservation employees--provide an excellent visual source of information on the Great Plains Native Americans. An art form representing a transition from drawing on buffalo hide to a paper medium, ledger drawings range in style, content, and quality from primitive and artistically poor to bold and sharp with lavish use of color. Although interest in ledger...

The decorative art of the Indians of the American Southwest has long been recognized as one of the most beautiful art traditions in the primitive world. It demonstrates a technical skill with simple materials, a symbolic richness, and a faculty for creating rich effects by the imaginative use of ornament that are all almost unique. Museums use Pueblo ceramics for display pieces, and modern artists and crafters have turned eagerly to the handwork of prehistoric Indian women for inspiration and working ideas.
Mrs. Dorothy Sides, a noted artist and collector, has gathered together and...

The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia constructed some of the most magnificent houses and erected some of the most beautifully carved totem poles on the Northwest Coast. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, images of the Haida's immense cedar houses and soaring totem poles were captured by photographers who travelled to then-remote villages such as Masset and Skidegate to marvel at, and record, what they saw there.

Haida Monumental Art, initially published as a limited edition hardcover and now available in paperback, includes a large...

Ronald Hawker's insightful examination focuses on the complex functions that Northwest Coast objects, such as the totem pole and ceremonial masks produced between 1922 and 1961. He demonstrates how these objects asserted the integrity and meaningfulness of First Nations identities, while simultaneously resisting the intent and effects of assimilation enforced by the Canadian government's denial of land claims, its ban of the potlatch, and its support of assimilationist education.

Switchbacks explores how the Nuxalk of Bella Coola, British Columbia, negotiate such complex questions as: Who owns culture? How should culture be transmitted to future generations? Where does selling and buying Nuxalk art fit into attempts to regain control of heritage?

To answer these questions, Jennifer Kramer undertook participant observation at Nuxalk artists? studios, in the Nuxalk-run band school's cultural education classes, and during the everyday activities of Nuxalk in their homes. She charts the fluid character of tangible material culture (such as masks and other...

Maria Montoya Martinez, or Marie, as she sometimes signs her pottery, is a woman who has become in her own lifetime a legend. She lives in the pueblo of San Ildefonso, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and although her life has been, as closely as she could make it, the normal life of a woman of her culture, her unusual qualities have set her apart and...