Schiffer Publishing is pleased to bring out this entirely new edition of H.L. James' classic study of the Navajo rug and the trading posts associated with each unique style. New information and an entirely different design help explain and display the beauty and craft of the Navajo Indians. Illustrated with 49 color plates, many black-and-white photographs and drawings, and up-to-date price information, Post and Rugs traces the history of the Navajo rug and the impact the trading posts have had on its regionalization. There is also much background material on the Navajo people and their art. Here are design drawings showing elements characteristic of different weaving centers, superb color photographs of rugs typical of these centers, and detailed maps to the areas. Exquisite line drawings accompany the text showing all the steps in rug weaving, from the sheep to the finished rug. Also there is helpful advice on buying Navajo rugs and caring for them.
William Randolph Hearst's collection of Navajo textiles is one of the most complete gatherings of nineteenth-century Navajo weaving in the world. Comprising dozens of Classic Period serapes, chief blankets, Germantown eyedazzlers, and turn-of-the-century rugs, the 185-piece collection was donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History in 1942 but for the next forty years was known only to a handful of scholars. Hearst began acquiring textiles from the Fred Harvey Company after viewing an exhibit of Indian artifacts. Over four decades he amassed a collection spanning more than a century of Navajo weaving and including nearly every major type produced from 1800 to 1920. Hearst's passion for American Indian artifacts was so strong that he had originally visualized his now-famous castle in San Simeon as a showplace for his Navajo textile collection. At a time when the Harvey Company was itself influencing the development of Indian handcrafts by opening up the tourist market, Hearst contributed to this influence by expressing his own artistic preference for rare and unusual pieces. This catalogue raisonnA(c), featuring nearly 200 illustrations, provides the general public with the first look at this important collection. Nancy Blomberg's narrative introduces the reader to the history of Navajo weaving and documents Hearst's role in its development. The heart of the book provides a detailed analysis of each textile: fibers, yarn types, dyes, and designs. Navajo Textiles thus constitutes an invaluable reference for scholars and collectors and will be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates these beautiful creations from the Navajo loom.
Describes and depicts the seventeen most common Navajo rug styles, and includes quotes by some of the finest weavers crafting rugs today. Photos of rugs from Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site by George H. H. Huey.
Schiffer Publishing is pleased to bring out this entirely new edition of H.L. James' classic study of the Navajo rug and the trading posts associated with each unique style. New information and an entirely different design help explain and display the beauty and craft of the Navajo Indians. Illustrated with 106 color images, many black-and-white photographs and drawings, and up-to-date price information, Post and Rugs traces the history of the Navajo rug and the impact the trading posts have had on its regionalization. There is also much background material on the Navajo people and their art. Here are design drawings showing elements characteristic of different weaving centers, superb color photographs of rugs typical of these centers, and detailed maps to the areas. Exquisite line drawings accompany the text showing all the steps in rug weaving, from the sheep to the finished rug. Also there is helpful advice on buying Navajo rugs and caring for them.
A history and description of southwestern textiles along with a catalog of Pueblo, Navajo, Mexican, and Spanish American blankets, ponchos, and sarapes.
Navajo Textiles provides a nuanced account the Navajo weavings in the Crane Collection at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science—one of the largest collections of Navajo textiles in the world. Bringing together the work of anthropologists and indigenous artists, the book explores the Navajo rug trade in the mid-nineteenth century and changes in the Navajo textile market while highlighting the museum’s important, though still relatively unknown, collection of Navajo textiles. In this unique collaboration among anthropologists, museums, and Navajo weavers, the authors provide a narrative of the acquisition of the Crane Collection and a history of Navajo weaving. Personal reflections and insights from foremost Navajo weavers D. Y. Begay and Lynda Teller Pete are also featured, and more than one hundred stunning full-color photographs of the textiles in the collection are accompanied by technical information about the materials and techniques used in their creation. An introduction by Ann Lane Hedlund documents the growing collaboration between Navajo weavers and museums in Navajo textile research. The legacy of Navajo weaving is complex and intertwined with the history of the Diné themselves. Navajo Textiles makes the history and practice of Navajo weaving accessible to an audience of scholars and laypeople both within and outside the Diné community.
According to the Navajos, the holy people Spider Man and Spider Woman first brought the tools for weaving to the People. Over the centuries Navajo artists have used those tools to weave a web of beautyÑa rich tradition that continues to the present day. In testimony to this living art form, this book presents 74 dazzling color plates of Navajo rugs and wall hangings woven between 1971 and 1996. Drawn from a private southwestern collection, they represent the work of sixty of the finest native weavers in the American Southwest. The creations depicted here reflect a number of stylesÑrevival, sandpainting, pictorial, miniature, samplerÑand a number of major regional variations, from Ganado to Teec Nos Pos. Textile authority Ann Hedlund provides an introductory narrative about the development of Navajo textile collectingÑincluding the shift of attention from artifacts to artÑand a brief review of the history of Navajo weaving. She then comments on the shaping of the particular collection represented in the book, offering a rich source of knowledge and insight for other collectors. Explaining themes in Navajo weaving over the quarter-century represented by the Santa Fe Collection, Hedlund focuses on the development of modern rug designs and the influence on weavers of family, community, artistic identity, and the marketplace. She also introduces each section of plates with a description of the representative style, its significance, and the weavers who perpetuate and deviate from it. In addition to the textile plates, Hedlund's color photographs show the families, landscapes, livestock, hogans, and looms that surround today's Navajo weavers. Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century explores many of the important connections that exist today among weavers through their families and neighbors, and the significant role that collectors play in perpetuating this dynamic art form. For all who appreciate American Indian art and culture, this book provides invaluable guidance to the fine points of collecting and a rich visual feast.
History extols the bravery and enterprise of the pioneers, trapers, railroaders, miners and cowboys, but little has been written about the romance and legends of the Indian traders of the Southwest. Just when the first Indian trader began dealing with the Southwest Indians is uncertain. This is a book about trading posts. Old trading posts. Trading posts that are still operating and ones that are long gone without a trace, except perhaps a crumbling wall or foundation. The book describes the present condition of each post, examines its history, and provides directions to even the hard-to-find posts. Indian trading posts are rapidly becoming a thing of the past or, as some would say, have become a thing of the past. Although many still occupy the original buildings and some owners resist the complete modernization of their stores, few of today's so-called 'trading posts' bear any similarity to what a real working trading post was like -- Back cover.