Native North American Art [R]

Native North American Art

by Janet C. Berlo & Ruth B. Phillips

Oxford University Press, New York, 1998

Softcover, first edition, 291 pages, illustrated

The immense diversity and richness of indigenous arts in the United States and Canada, from early artefacts, to historic-era dance masks, quill- and beadwork, and basketry, to the contemporary paintings and installations by modern artists such as Robert Davidson, Emmi Whitehorse, and Alex Janvier is only now beginning to be fully appreciated and understood.

Ranging from the early pre-contact period to the present day, stressing the conceptual and iconographic continuities over many centuries and across a vast number of regions, the authors introduce the extraordinary variety of Native American arts to a new audience.  Their book encompasses both the sacred and secular, political and domestic, the ceremonial and commercial, and establishes the importance of the visual arts in maintaining the integrity of spiritual, social, political, and economic systems within Native North American societies.  It concludes brilliantly with the powerful and exciting resurgence of Native North American arts and scholarship in the last few decades.

This book is an innovative survey of Native North American art history which fully incorporates substantive new research and scholarship, and examines 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, it shows the importance of the visual arts in maintaining the integrity of spiritual, social , political, and economic systems within Native North American societies. This exciting new 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. '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

Table of Contents Main Subjects

Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Indigenous Arts of North America

Chapter 2. The Southwest

Chapter 3. The East

Chapter 4. The West

Chapter 5. The North

Chapter 6. The Northwest Coast

Chapter 7. The Twentieth Century: Trends in Modern Native Art

Notes

List of Illustrations

Bibliographic Essay

Timeline

Index