Native North American Art

by Janet Catherine Berlo, Ruth B. Phillips

Overview

This exciting investigation explores the indigenous arts of the US and Canada from the early pre-contact period to the present day, stressing the conceptual and iconographic continuities over five centuries and across an immensely diverse range of regions. The richness of Native American art is emphasized through discussions of basketry, wood and rock carvings, dance masks, and beadwork, alongside the contemporary vitality of paintings and installations by modern artists such as Robert Davidson, Emmi Whitehorse, and Alex Janvier. Authors Berlo and Philips fully incorporate substantive new research and scholarship, and examine such issues as gender, representation, the colonial encounter, and contemporary arts. By encompassing both the sacred and secular, political and domestic, the ceremonial and commercial, Native North American Art shows the importance of the visual arts in maintaining the integrity of spiritual, social, political, and economic systems within Native North American societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192842183
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/19/1998
Series:	Oxford History of Art
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	809,798
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Janet Catherine Berlo is the Susan B. Anthony Chair of Gender and Women's Studies and Professor of Art History at the University of Rochester, New York.
Ruth Phillips is Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Professor of Fine Art and Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Indigenous Arts of North America
Art History and Native art
What is 'art'? Western discourses and Native American objects
Modes of appreciation: curiosity, specimen, artefact, and art
What is an Indian? Clan, community, political structure, and art
Cosmology
The map of the cosmos
The nature of spirit
Dreams and the vision quest
Shamanism
Art and the public celebration of power
The power of personal adornment
'Creativity is our tradition': innovation and tradition in Native American art
Gender and the making of art

Chapter 2: The Southwest
The Southwest as a region
The ancient world
From the colonial era to the modern Pueblos
Navajo and Apache arts

Chapter 3: The East
The East as a region
Hunting cultures, burial practices, and Early Woodlands art forms
Mississippian art and culture
The cataclysm of contact: the Southeast
The early contact period in the Northeast
Arts of the middle ground
Arts of self-adornment

Chapter 4: The West
Introduction
The Great Plains
The Intermontaine region—an artistic crossroads
The Far West: arts of California and the Great Basin

Chapter 5: The North
Geography, environment, and language in the North
Sub-arctic clothing: art to honour and protect
The Arctic

Chapter 6: The Northwest Coast
Origins
The early contact period
Styles and techniques
Western connoisseurship and Northwest Coast art
Shamanism
Crest art
The potlatch
Art, commodity, and oral tradition
Northwest Coast art in the twentieth century

Chapter 7: The Twentieth Century: Trends in Modern Native Art
Questions of definition
Commoditization and contemporary art
Moments of beginning
The Southern Plains and the Kiowa Five
The Southwest and the 'Studio' style
The display and marketing of American Indian art: exhibitions, mural projects, and competitions
Native American modernisms, 1950-80
Institutional frameworks and modernism in Canada
Postmodernism, installation, and other post-studio art

Notes
List of Illustrations
Bibliographic Essay
Timeline
Index

Editorial Reviews

"The best guide yet to understanding the complexities of Native North American art....a solidly ground, sophisticated history, combining art history, anthropology, and cultural studies...splendidly well-written...useful and timely."—Gerald McMaster, Curator of Art, Canadian Museum of Civilization

"An outstanding new volume in the Oxford History of Art series. Designed to introduce readers to the depth and diversity of Native regional art, it is also a highly readable introduction to Native North American history and anthropology."—Foreword

"A fine statement, covering in fewer than 300 pages the artistic output of most Native American tribes across the northern hemisphere over a period of more than eight centuries.... Illustrations are especially fresh, varied, and well chosen."—Library Journal

"Nicely organized and clearly written— very good illustrations."—Pat McDonald, Calhoun Community College

"This book has it all—a fresh, readable style, wonderful supporting photos and diagrams, and it's inexpensive. Berlo and Phillips also present a holistic view of Native American Art—just as it should be. Brava!"—Helen Barnes, Wichita State University

"An excellent textbook—politically aware and well-written. An especially good bibliographic essay. One of the best aspects of this text is the integration of arts from all periods—ancient through contemporary."—Matthew Looper, California State University at Chico

"An excellent book which includes information on various ethical issues surrounding the collection, display, and documentation of native American arts."—Maude Wahlman, University of Missouri, Kansas City

From the Publisher

Designed to introduce readers to the depth and diversity of Native regional art, it is also a highly readable introduction to Native North American history and anthropology. -- ForeWord Magazine

H. Shaw Cauchy

This latest in Oxford's "History of Art" series makes a fine statement, covering in fewer than 300 pages the artistic output of most Native American tribes across the northern hemisphere over a period of more than eight centuries. Both scholars have written on Native American art before, and the writing, although a trifle pedantic at times, flows smoothly, balancing the sweep of history and the diversity of tribal customs across the continent. In an introduction that stresses the commonality of themes--cosmology, vision quests, love of ornament, reverence of materials--they emphasize the importance of today's Native art as a natural extension. Five regional chapters then incorporate history, outstanding crafts and arts, some prominent figures, and social, religious, and cultural aspects. A final and perhaps disproportionately long chapter treats the present trends in what is termed modern Native art. Illustrations are especially fresh, varied, and well chosen, and a number of maps, a time line, and a bibliographic essay recommending further reading are helpful. A solid, basic reference at the right price; suitable for all libraries.--Gay Neale, Southside Virginia Community Coll., Alberta and Keysville

Library Journal