Tribal Art Sale at Eve

Auctioneers Eve will present a sale of fine tribal art and artifacts on June 1 in Paris at the Drouot Richelieu. Featuring works from North America, Africa, and Oceania, the sale will highlight an array of exquisite Southwest objects, most importantly a number of archaic statues from the Mimbres and Anasazi.

For more information, view the online catalogue.

Figure of a bison  -  Mimbres or Anasazi  -  12th to 14th century

Kachina, Shalako Taka  -  Hopi or Zuni, Arizona  -  1880 or earlier  

Figure of Mother Earth  -  Mimbres or Anasazi  -  Ca 1000 CE

Images courtesy of Eve

Native American Art Sale at Bonhams

Bonhams will present a sale of fine Native American art in San Francisco on June 1.  Showcasing an extensive range of works from traditional cultures across the North American continent, the lots on offer will include beaded garments from the Plains, Southwestern ceramics and katsina, Northwest Coast masks, Arctic artifacts, and much more. 

View the online catalogue.

Boy's shirt  -  Lakota Sioux

Mask  -  Tsimshian

Effigy figure  -  Okvik (Eskimo)

Images courtesy of Bonhams

Native American Art Sale at Bonhams

Bonhams will present a large sale of Native American art and artifacts in San Francisco on December 8. Among the hundreds of lots will be a wide range of Southwest figures, jewelry, and basketry, as well as a selection of Spanish Colonial works. A few of the sale's highlights, pictured below, are a monumental Apache olla, a fine Northwest Coast chilkat blanket, and a rare Mojave cradle figure.

View the online catalogue.

Images courtesy of Bonhams

Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and its Meaning

On view until May 2, 2016 at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning highlights the Museum’s extensive collection of Southwestern turquoise jewelry and presents all aspects of the stone, from geology, mining and history, to questions of authenticity and value. The installation presents hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, belts, rings, earrings, silver boxes and other objects illustrating how the stone was used and its deep significance to the people of the region. 

Visit the exhibition website.

Bracelet  -  Navajo  -  ca. 1920s

Squash blossom necklace  -  Navajo  -   ca 1920–39

Images and information courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Turquoise, Water, Sky

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe has opened a new long-term exhibition that draws on its collection of turquoise jewelry and related artifacts. Titled Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning, it explores the importance of this delicately colored stone to the peoples of the American Southwest. While we generally associate it with jewelry, turquoise also has long had ritual importance and significant trade implications. Even its geology is addressed in this comprehensive survey.

View the official website.

Cuff by Angie Reano Owen

Sons of the Sun

The Musée du Nouveau Monde continues to explore Native American culture with a new show entitled Indiens de la Californie et du sud-ouest des États-Unis (Indians of California and the American Southwest), on view from June 28–September 22. The exhibition includes material from both public and private French collection and is a reflection of a widespread interest in France about Indian culture and artifacts. Weapons, apparel, utilitarian items, and cult objects illustrate both the wealth of the collection made by French explorers and scientific expeditions as well s the fruitfulness of the exchanges that took place between the Musée du Trocadero and the Smithsonian Institution.

View the exhibition's official website.

Mask  -  Jemez Pueblo

Ceremonial headdress  -  Pomo

Zoomorphic pot  -  Pueblo

Basket jar, olla  -  Apache

Images courtesy of the Musée du Nouveau Monde

Curtis Reframed: The Arizona Portfolios

In the early decades of the 20th century, famed photographer of the American West Edward S. Curtis created and published a vast photographic record of North American Indians. These iconic images have generated controversy even as they have fascinated generations of viewers. Photogravures from the permanent collections of the Arizona State Museum and examples of the copper plates from the collections of the Center for Creative Photography are currently on view at the ASM in Curtis Reframed: The Arizona Portfolios, an exhibition exploring Curtis’s work with thirteen Arizona tribes from 1903 to 1928. Twenty images will be exhibited at one time, then rotated after six months, for a total of sixty over the life of the exhibit.

Information and images courtesy of the Arizona State Museum

Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870

On view now at the Denver Art Museum,  Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870 presents about fifty of the greatest examples of Navajo textile design. Drawing from the DAM collections, other museums, and private collections, this exhibition will surprise and delight museum visitors with the bold use of color and sophisticated design sensibilities. Showing works created as prestige shoulder blankets, this exhibition will explore the designer’s eye in pattern development and layout—and especially highlight the effect the textile would have as it was worn draped around a human form to enhance the stature and visibility of the wearer.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Poncho, ca. 1850

Installation view

Images courtesy of the Denver Art Museum

Native American Art Auction at Bonhams

On June 3, Bonhams and Butterfields of San Francisco will hold a large sale of fine antiques and artifacts from indigenous tribes across North America.  Comprising over 5,000 lots, the assemblage will offer Southwest ceramics and carvings, Eskimo ritual items, and much more. 

For more information, view the online catalogue.

Polychrome storage jar - Hopi

Chief's blanket  -  Navajo

Transformation mask - Yup'ik

Information and images courtesy of Bonhams

Native American and Pre-Columbian Art Auction

On March 25, auctioneers EVE will present two sales of ancient American art at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. The first, smaller group of lots will highlight the Hopi art collection of Yves Berger, including a compelling range of katsina. The second sale will focus on sculptural and ceramic pre-Columbian art from Mexico to South America.

Visit the official EVE website.

Information and images courtesy of EVE

Katsina in Hopi Life

On view until June 23, 2013 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles is Katsina in Hopi Life, featuring remarkable katsina (kachina) dolls from the Autry's Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection.  Katsinam (the plural form of katsina) are spiritual beings who represent all aspects of life and travel to be with the Hopi people of Arizona six months of the year.  Told from the Hopi perspective, this exhibition shares the unique relationship the Hopi have with the katsinam, focusing on the values, lessons, and encouraging messages learned from them.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Pusukíntaqa-Kooyemsi  -  Drummer-Mudhead Katsina  -  Hopi, Clayton Kaniatobe  -  2007

Patang  -  Squash Katsina  -  Hopi, R. Phillips  -  1990s

Pangwu  -  Mountain Sheep Katsina  -  Hopi  -  1960s

Kooyemsi  -  Mudhead Katsina  -  Hopi, Duane Tawahongva  -  Circa 1999

Kòoninkatsina  -  Havasupai Katsina  -  Hopi  -  1900s

Töövkatsina  -  Antelope Katsina  -  Hopi  -  Circa 1930

Hemiskatsina  -  Hopi, Kayquopieuh  -  Circa 1990

Information and images courtesy of the Autry National Center