Southwestern Indian Baskets

A complete and comprehensive history of the craft of basket-making. Includes a discussion of the concept of basketry as a form of art.

With the same clarity and attention to detail for which she has become known throughout the world as an authority on Indian craft arts, Tanner now reveals the wide range of Southwest Indian basketry in this handsome volume.

Since then, baskets have evolved into a vast array of ritual, utilitarian, and decorative forms, still in use in Native American homes and increasingly appearing in art galleries, museums, and private collections. This volume celebrates the contemporary florescence of this ancient art form."--BOOK JACKET.

Everything there is to know about traditional Native American basket weaving. Native American basket weaving is an intricate and powerful art, representative of the legends and ceremonies of the Indian nations and their cultures. George Wharton James’s Indian Basketry is an invaluable aid for the artist, designer, craftsman, or beginner who wants to recreate authentic and often extinct basket forms and decorative motifs of the Native American peoples. Filled with 355 illustrations and photographs of Native American basket weavers taken at the turn of the twentieth century, this pioneering study—first published in 1901—provides in-depth information about specific aspects of Indian basketry, including: • Its role in legend and ceremony • The origins of forms and designs • Materials and colors used • Weaves and stitches • The symbolism and poetry woven into each basket • Preservation • Tips for the collector • And much more! From Yolo ceremonial baskets to Oraibi sacred trays, Indian Basketry traces the origin, development, and fundamental principles of the basket designs of the major Indian tribes of the southwestern United States and Pacific Coast, along with comments on the basket weaving of a number of other North American tribes.

Over 750 color photographs illustrate this long-awaited guide for collectors of vintage Native American basketry. Decades of basketry research inform the text, guiding basket lovers to a better understanding of these woven treasures. Clear images and concise descriptions, presented in an extended gallery showcasing hundreds of baskets, delineate specific tribal styles within Native North America's nine basketry regions: Southwest, Great Basin, California, Plateau, Northwest Coast, Arctic and Subarctic, Plains, Southeast, and Northeast. Unique to this book is an in-depth comparison of imported baskets being passed off as American Indian work. The cultural and historical background as well as the influence of the "Indian basket craze" are also examined. Valuable guidance on buying, selling, and caring for baskets includes a frank discussion of legal issues impacting basket collectors. Rounding out this essential reference are comprehensive regional bibliographies, Internet resource listings, and a directory of American museums exhibiting Native American baskets.

Two photographers recreate a visual record of the 18th century friars' search for a route from New Mexico to California.