Visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas

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Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
Crooked Beak of Heaven Mask, Kwakwakaʼwakw, 19th century
Dresden Codex, Maya, circa 11th or 12th century
History of art
Periods and movements
Regions
Art of the Middle East

Art of Central Asia

Art of East Asia

Art of South Asia

Art of Southeast Asia

Art of Europe

Art of Africa

Art of the Americas

Art of Oceania
Religions
Techniques
Types
Major cultural areas of the pre-Columbian Americas:      Arctic      Northwest      Aridoamerica      Mesoamerica      Isthmo-Colombian      Caribbean      Amazon      Andes. This map does not show Greenland, which is part of the Arctic cultural area.

The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the

Yupiit
, are also included.

Indigenous American visual arts include portable arts, such as painting, basketry, textiles, or photography, as well as monumental works, such as architecture, land art, public sculpture, or murals. Some Indigenous art forms coincide with Western art forms; however, some, such as porcupine quillwork or birchbark biting are unique to the Americas.

Indigenous art of the Americas has been collected by Europeans since sustained contact in 1492 and joined collections in cabinets of curiosities and early museums. More conservative Western art museums have classified Indigenous art of the Americas within arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, with precontact artwork classified as pre-Columbian art, a term that sometimes refers to only precontact art by Indigenous peoples of Latin America. Native scholars and allies are striving to have Indigenous art understood and interpreted from Indigenous perspectives.

Lithic and Archaic stage

See also:
Stone tools

The

Archaic period. While people of this time period worked in a wide range of materials, perishable materials, such as plant fibers or hides, had seldom been preserved through the millennia. Indigenous peoples created bannerstones, Projectile point, Lithic reduction
styles, and pictographic cave paintings, some of which have survived in the present.

Belonging in the lithic stage, the oldest known art in the Americas is a fossilized megafauna bone, possibly from a mammoth, carved with a profile of walking mammoth or mastodon that dates back to 11,000 BCE.[1] The bone was found early in the 21st century near Vero Beach, Florida, in an area where human bones (Vero man) had been found in association with extinct pleistocene animals early in the 20th century. The bone is too mineralized to be dated, but the carving has been authenticated as having been made before the bone became mineralized. The anatomical correctness of the carving and the heavy mineralization of the bone indicate that the carving was made while mammoths and/or mastodons still lived in the area, more than 10,000 years ago.[2][3][4][5]

The oldest known painted object in North America is the

Cooper Bison Skull from approximately 8,050 BCE.[6][page needed] Lithic age art in South America includes Monte Alegre culture rock paintings created at Caverna da Pedra Pintada dating back to 9250 to 8550 BCE.[7][8] Guitarrero Cave in Peru has the earliest known textiles in South America, dating to 8000 BCE.[9]

The southwestern United States and certain regions of the Andes have the highest concentration of

pictographs (painted images) and Petroglyphs (carved images) from this period. Both pictographs and petroglyphs are known as rock art
.

North America

Arctic

See also:
Alaska Native Art

The

Ammassalik.[10] Sperm whale ivory remains a valued medium for carving.[11]

Subarctic

Cultures of interior Alaska and Canada living south of the

Caribou, and to a lesser extent moose, are major resources, providing hides, antlers, sinew, and other artistic materials. Porcupine quillwork embellishes hides and birchbark. After European contact with the influence of the Grey Nuns, moosehair tufting and floral glass beadwork became popular through the Subarctic.[12]

Northwest Coast

Main article:
Kwakwaka'wakw art, and Haida argillite carvings

The art of the

Tlingit, Heiltsuk, Tsimshian and other smaller tribes living in the coastal areas of Washington state, Oregon, and British Columbia, is characterized by an extremely complex stylistic vocabulary expressed mainly in the medium of woodcarving. Famous examples include totem poles, transformation masks
, and canoes. In addition to woodwork, two dimensional painting and silver, gold and copper engraved jewelry became important after contact with Europeans.

Eastern Woodlands

Northeastern Woodlands

The

Mound builders
.

The Woodland period (1000 BCE–1000 CE) is divided into early, middle, and late periods, and consisted of cultures that relied mostly on hunting and gathering for their subsistence. Ceramics made by the Deptford culture (2500 BCE–100 CE) are the earliest evidence of an artistic tradition in this region. The Adena culture are another well-known example of an early Woodland culture. They carved stone tablets with zoomorphic designs, created pottery, and fashioned costumes from animal hides and antlers for ceremonial rituals. Shellfish was a mainstay of their diet, and engraved shells have been found in their burial mounds.

The

Middle Woodland period was dominated by cultures of the Hopewell tradition (200–500). Their artwork
encompassed a wide variety of jewelry and sculpture in stone, wood, and even human bone.

The

Late Woodland period
(500–1000 CE) saw a decline in trade and in the size of settlements, and the creation of art likewise declined.

From the 12th century onward, the

Haudenosaunee and nearby coastal tribes fashioned wampum from shells and string; these were mnemonic
devices, currency, and records of treaties.

Iroquois people carve

Haudenosaunee, are clear that these masks are not for sale or public display.[13] The same can be said for Iroquois Corn Husk Society masks.[14]

One fine art sculptor of the mid-nineteenth century was

Newark Museum.[15]

Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands continued to make visual art through the 20th and 21st centuries. One such artist is Sharol Graves, whose serigraphs have been exhibited in the National Museum of the American Indian.[16] Graves is also the illustrator of The People Shall Continue from Lee & Low Books.

Southeastern Woodlands

The

Georgia.[18] Hand-modeled lowly fired clay objects occur in a variety of shapes including anthropomorphic figurines and cooking balls.[17]

  • Clay cooking utensils, Poverty Point
    Clay cooking utensils, Poverty Point
  • Clay female figurines, Poverty Point
    Clay female figurines, Poverty Point
  • Carved gorgets and atlatl weights, Poverty Point
    Carved gorgets and
    atlatl
    weights, Poverty Point

The

Wichita
, and many other southeastern peoples.

A large number of pre-Columbian wooden artifacts have been found in Florida. While the oldest wooden artifacts are as much as 10,000 years old, carved and painted wooden objects are known only from the past 2,000 years. Animal effigies and face masks have been found at a number of sites in Florida. Animal effigies dating to between 200 and 600 were found in a mortuary pond at Fort Center, on the west side of Lake Okeechobee. Particularly impressive is a 66 cm tall carving of an eagle.[20]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Key Marco.

More than 1,000 carved and painted wooden objects, including masks, tablets, plaques and effigies, were excavated in 1896 at

southwestern Florida. They have been described as some of the finest prehistoric Native American art in North America. The objects are not well dated, but may belong to the first millienium of the current era. Spanish missionaries described similar masks and effigies in use by the Calusa late in the 17th century, and at the former Tequesta site on the Miami River in 1743, although no examples of the Calusa objects from the historic period have survived. A south Florida effigy style is known from wooden and bone carvings from various sites in the Belle Glade, Caloosahatchee, and Glades culture areas.[21][22]

The

Seminoles are best known for their textile creations, especially patchwork clothing. Doll-making is another notable craft.[23]

  • Eagle totem, Fort Center, Florida
    Eagle totem, Fort Center, Florida
  • Alligator effigy, wood carving, Key Marco, Florida
    Alligator effigy, wood carving, Key Marco, Florida
  • Wooden mask, Key Marco, Florida
    Wooden mask, Key Marco, Florida
  • Seminole patchwork fringed dance shawl, Big Cypress Indian Reservation, Florida, 1980s
    Seminole patchwork fringed dance shawl, Big Cypress Indian Reservation, Florida, 1980s

The West

Great Plains

Tribes have lived on the

Cooper Bison Skull, found in Oklahoma and dated 10,900–10,200 BCE. It's painted with a red zig-zag.[6]

In the Plains Village period, the cultures of the area settled in enclosed clusters of rectangular houses and cultivated maize. Various regional differences emerged, including Southern Plains, Central Plains, Oneota, and Middle Missouri. Tribes were both nomadic hunters and semi-nomadic farmers. During the Plains Coalescent period (1400-European contact) some change, possibly drought, caused the mass migration of the population to the Eastern Woodlands region, and the Great Plains were sparsely populated until pressure from American settlers drove tribes into the area again.

The advent of the horse revolutionized the cultures of many historical Plains tribes. Horse culture enabled tribes to live a completely nomadic existence, hunting buffalo. Buffalo hide clothing was decorated with porcupine quill embroidery and beads – dentalium shells and elk teeth were prized materials. Later coins and glass beads acquired from trading were incorporated into Plains art. Plains beadwork has flourished into contemporary times.

Buffalo was the preferred material for Plains hide painting. Men painted narrative, pictorial designs recording personal exploits or visions. They also painted pictographic historical calendars known as Winter counts. Women painted geometric designs on tanned robes and rawhide parfleches, which sometimes served as maps.[25]

During the Reservation Era of the late 19th century, buffalo herds were systematically destroyed by non-native hunters. Due to the scarcity of hides, Plains artists adopted new painting surfaces, such as muslin or paper, giving birth to Ledger art, so named for the ubiquitous ledger books used by Plains artists.

Great Basin and Plateau

Since the archaic period the Plateau region, also known as the

hemp dogbane bags, which are decorated with "bold, geometric designs" in false embroidery.[27]
Plateau beadworkers are known for their contour-style beading and their elaborate horse regalia.

Paiute, Shoshone and Washoe basketmakers are known for their baskets that incorporate seed beads on the surface and for waterproof baskets.[29]

  • Nez Perce bag with contour beadwork, c. 1850-60
    Nez Perce
    bag with contour beadwork, c. 1850-60
  • Nez Perce man's beaded and quilled buckskin shirt with eagle feathers and ermine pelts, c. 1880-85
    Nez Perce man's beaded and quilled buckskin shirt with eagle feathers and ermine pelts, c. 1880-85
  • Shoshone beaded men's moccasins, circa 1900, Wyoming
    Shoshone beaded men's moccasins, circa 1900, Wyoming
  • Basket by Carrie Bethel (Mono Lake Paiute), California, 30" diam., c. 1931-35
    Basket by
    Mono Lake Paiute
    ), California, 30" diam., c. 1931-35

California

The Native Americans of California have used different mediums and forms for their traditional designs found in artifacts that express their history and culture. Some traditional art forms and archaeological evidence include basketry, painted pictographs and petroglyphs found on the walls in the caves, and effigy figurines. 

The

Southwest Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian
.

California has a large number of

Coso people, is in Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons in the Coso Rock Art District of the northern Mojave Desert
in California.

The most elaborate pictographs in the U.S are considered to be the

Burro Flats Painted Cave
.

An art practice used by the Native American tribes of California, such as the Chumash, are carving and shaping effigy figurines. From multiple archaeological studies that occurred in various historical sites (the Channel Islands, Malibu, Santa Barbara, and more) many effigy figures were discovered and portrayed several zoomorphic forms, such as fish, whales, frogs, and birds.[30][31] As a result from analyzing these effigy figurines in these studies, several strong conclusions were drawn that provided context to the Native Americans of California, such as social attributes between the Chumash and other tribes, economical significance, and possibly used in rituals.[30][31][32] Some effigy figurines were found in burials, and others were found in relation to having similar stylistic features with dates that suggest social interactional spheres in the MIddle and Late Holocene between tribes.[30][31]

Sandstone shark effigies found in San Nicholas Island.
  • Chumash rock art at Painted Cave
    Chumash rock art
    at Painted Cave
  • A basket made by the Pomo people of northern California.
    A basket made by the
    Pomo people
    of northern California.
  • Pomo beaded, coiled basket, sedgeroot, willow, glass beads, abalone, circa 1880
    Pomo beaded, coiled basket, sedgeroot, willow, glass beads, abalone, circa 1880
  • Late 19th-century Hupa woman's cap, bear grass and conifer root, Stanford University
    Late 19th-century Hupa woman's cap, bear grass and conifer root, Stanford University

Southwest

See also: Oasisamerica

In the Southwestern United States numerous pictographs and petroglyphs were created. The

Horseshoe Canyon, among other sites. Petroglyphs by these and the Mogollon culture's artists are represented in Dinosaur National Monument and at Newspaper Rock
.

The

Pueblo tribes. Their culture formed in the American southwest, after the cultivation of corn was introduced from Mexico around 1200 BCE. People of this region developed an agrarian lifestyle, cultivating food, storage gourds, and cotton with irrigation or xeriscaping
techniques. They lived in sedentary towns, so pottery, used to store water and grain, was ubiquitous.

For hundreds of years, Ancestral Pueblo created utilitarian grayware and black-on-white pottery and occasionally orange or red ceramics. In historical times, Hopi created ollas, dough bowls, and food bowls of different sizes for daily use, but they also made more elaborate ceremonial mugs, jugs, ladles, seed jars and those vessels for ritual use, and these were usually finished with polished surfaces and decorated with black painted designs. At the turn of the 20th century, Hopi potter Nampeyo famous revived Sikyátki-style pottery, originated on First Mesa in the 14th to 17th centuries.[33]

Southwest architecture includes

before present. Pueblo Bonito contains over 800 rooms.[34]

Turquoise, jet, and spiny oyster shell have been traditionally used by Ancestral Pueblo for jewelry, and they developed sophisticated inlay techniques centuries ago.

Around 200 CE the

Mimbres, a subgroup of the Mogollon culture
, are especially notable for the narrative paintings on their pottery.

Within the last millennium,

rugs
for trade.

In the 1850s, Navajos adopted silversmithing from the Mexicans. Atsidi Sani (Old Smith) was the first Navajo silversmith, but he had many students, and the technology quickly spread to surrounding tribes. Today thousands of artists produce silver jewelry with turquoise. Hopi are renowned for their overlay silver work and cottonwood carvings. Zuni artists are admired for their cluster work jewelry, showcasing turquoise designs, as well as their elaborate, pictorial stone inlay in silver.

Mesoamerica and Central America

Map of the Mesoamerican cultural region
See also: Pre-Columbian art § Mesoamerica and Central America

The cultural development of ancient Mesoamerica was generally divided along east and west. "Archaeologists have dated human presence in Mesoamerica to possibly as early as 21,000 BCE" (Jeff Wallenfeldt)[35]. The stable Maya culture was most dominant in the east, especially the Yucatán Peninsula, while in the west more varied developments took place in subregions. These included West Mexican (1000–1), Teotihuacan (1–500), Mixtec (1000–1200), and Aztec (1200–1521).

Central American civilizations generally lived to the regions south of modern-day Mexico, although there was some overlap between the places.

Mesoamerica

See also: Mesoamerican architecture and Mesoamerica § Chronology_and_culture

Mesoamerica was home to the following cultures, among others:

Olmec

Main articles:
Olmec § Art

The Olmec (1500–400 BCE), who lived on the gulf coast, were the

stelae
to commemorate victories or other important events.

The most famous artistic creations of the Olmec are colossal basalt heads, believed to be portraits of rulers that were erected to advertise their great power. The Olmec also sculpted votive figurines that they buried beneath the floors of their houses for unknown reasons. These were most often modeled in terracotta, but also occasionally carved from jade or serpentine.

  • Monument 1, one of the four Olmec colossal heads at La Venta. This one is nearly 3 metres (9 ft) tall.
    Monument 1, one of the four Olmec colossal heads at La Venta. This one is nearly 3 metres (9 ft) tall.
  • An "elongated man" figurine, dark green serpentine.
    An "elongated man" figurine, dark green serpentine.
  • Kunz Axe; 1200-400 BCE; polished green quartz (aventurine); height: 29 cm, width: 13.5 cm; British Museum (London)[36]
    Kunz Axe; 1200-400 BCE; polished green quartz (aventurine); height: 29 cm, width: 13.5 cm; British Museum (London)[36]
  • Jade mask; 10th–6th century BCE; jadeite; height: 17.1 cm (63⁄4 in.), width: 16.5 (65⁄16 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Jade mask; 10th–6th century BCE; jadeite; height: 17.1 cm (63⁄4 in.), width: 16.5 (65⁄16 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Teotihuacan

Americas. Established around 200 BCE, the city fell between the 7th and 8th century CE. Teotihuacan has numerous well-preserved murals
.

Classic Veracruz Culture

Main articles:
Classic Veracruz Culture § Ceramics

In his 1957 book on Mesoamerican art, Miguel Covarrubias speaks of Remojadas' "magnificent hollow figures with expressive faces, in majestic postures and wearing elaborate paraphernalia indicated by added clay elements."[37]

  • A large terracotta figurine of a young chieftain in the Remojadas style. 300–600 CE; Height: 31 in (79 cm).
    A large terracotta figurine of a young chieftain in the Remojadas style. 300–600 CE; Height: 31 in (79 cm).
  • Male-female duality figure from Remojadas, 200–500 CE. Note the feminine breast and birds on the right side of the figure.
    Male-female duality figure from Remojadas, 200–500 CE. Note the feminine breast and birds on the right side of the figure.
  • Veracruz altar urn
    Veracruz altar urn
  • Stone head of a woman from El Tajin
    Stone head of a woman from El Tajin

Zapotec

"The Bat God was one of the important deities of the Maya, many elements of whose religion were shared also by the Zapotec. The Bat God in particular is known to have been revered also by the Zapotec ... He was especially associated ... with the underworld."[attribution needed][38] An important Zapotec center was Monte Albán, in present-day Oaxaca, Mexico. The Monte Albán periods are divided into I, II, and III, which range from 200 BCE to 600 CE.

  • Ceramic urn, 200 BCE – 800 CE, British Museum.[39]
    Ceramic urn, 200 BCE – 800 CE, British Museum.[39]
  • Ceramic Zapotec vessel
    Ceramic Zapotec vessel
  • Golden ornamentation worn by Zapotec government officials
    Golden ornamentation worn by Zapotec government officials
  • Mosaic mask that represents a Bat god, 25 pieces of jade, with yellow eyes made of shell. It was found in a tomb at Monte Albán
    Mosaic mask that represents a Bat god, 25 pieces of jade, with yellow eyes made of shell. It was found in a tomb at Monte Albán

Maya

Main articles:
Maya art, Maya ceramics, Maya architecture, and Maya stelae
See also: Bonampak and San Bartolo (Maya site)

The Maya civilization occupied the south of Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.

Toltec

  • The Atlantes — columns in the form of Toltec warriors in Tula.
    The Atlantes — columns in the form of Toltec warriors in
    Tula
    .
  • An expressive orange-ware clay vessel in the Toltec style.
    An expressive orange-ware clay vessel in the Toltec style.
  • Toltec bird carving in granite at Tula
    Toltec bird carving in granite at Tula
  • Toltec turtle vessel
    Toltec turtle vessel

Mixtec

Main article: Mixtec § Language, codices, and artwork

Totonac

Main article: Totonac culture

Huastec

Main article: Huastec people § Art

Aztec

Main article: Aztecs § Art and cultural production

Central America and "Intermediate area"

Greater Chiriqui

Greater Nicoya The ancient peoples of the Nicoya Peninsula in present-day Costa Rica traditionally sculpted birds in jade, which were used for funeral ornaments.[41] Around 500 CE gold ornaments replaced jade, possibly because of the depletion of jade resources.[42]

Caribbean

South American

See also: Pre-Columbian art § South America

The native civilizations were most developed in the

Andean region, where they are roughly divided into Northern Andes civilizations of present- day Colombia and Ecuador and the Southern Andes civilizations of present- day Peru
and Chile.

Hunter-gatherer tribes throughout the Amazon rainforest of Brazil also have developed artistic traditions involving tattooing and body painting. Because of their remoteness, these tribes and their art have not been studied as thoroughly as Andean cultures, and many even remain uncontacted.

Isthmo-Colombian Area

The Isthmo-Colombian Area includes some Central American countries (like Costa Rica and Panama) and some South American countries near them (like Colombia).

San Agustín

Main article: San Agustín culture

Calima

Main article: Calima culture
  • Funerary mask; 5th-1st century BCE; embossed gold; Ilama stage; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Funerary mask; 5th-1st century BCE; embossed gold; Ilama stage; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Animal-headed figure pendant; 1st–7th century; gold; height: 6.35 cm (21⁄2 in.); Yotoco stage; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Animal-headed figure pendant; 1st–7th century; gold; height: 6.35 cm (21⁄2 in.); Yotoco stage; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Double spout and strap handle vessel with a mythological figure; 400–1200; slip-painted ceramic; height: 19.37 cm (75⁄8 in.), width: 19.05 cm (71⁄2 in.), depth: 10.32 cm (41⁄16in.); Yotoco stage; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    Double spout and strap handle vessel with a mythological figure; 400–1200; slip-painted ceramic; height: 19.37 cm (75⁄8 in.), width: 19.05 cm (71⁄2 in.), depth: 10.32 cm (41⁄16in.); Yotoco stage; Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Tolima

Main article: Panche people

Gran Coclé

Main articles: Gran Coclé and Sitio Conte
  • Pedestal dish; 600–800; height: 15.24 cm (6 in.), diameter: 27.69 cm (107⁄8 in.); Walters Art Museum
    Pedestal dish; 600–800; height: 15.24 cm (6 in.), diameter: 27.69 cm (107⁄8 in.); Walters Art Museum
  • Ceramic plate; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (USA)
    Ceramic plate;
    University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
    (USA)
  • Gold plaque from Sitio Conte; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
    Gold plaque from Sitio Conte; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Diquis

Main article: Diquis
  • One of the stone spheres of Costa Rica
    One of the stone spheres of Costa Rica
  • Ceremonial metate; 1500 BCE-1400; height: 56 cm (221⁄16 in.), width: 94.4 cm (373⁄16 in.), depth: 78 cm (3011⁄16 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
    Ceremonial metate; 1500 BCE-1400; height: 56 cm (221⁄16 in.), width: 94.4 cm (373⁄16 in.), depth: 78 cm (3011⁄16 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
  • Stone figure resembling a masked shaman; 1000–1500; Musée du quai Branly (Paris)
    Stone figure resembling a masked shaman; 1000–1500;
    Musée du quai Branly
    (Paris)
  • Two lobster-shaped pendants; 700–1550; Museo del Jade Marco Fidel Tristán Castro (San José, Costa Rica)
    Two lobster-shaped pendants; 700–1550;
    Museo del Jade Marco Fidel Tristán Castro (San José
    , Costa Rica)

Nariño

Main article:
Nariño culture
  • Nose ornament; 7th-12th century; cantilever gold alloy; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Nose ornament; 7th-12th century; cantilever gold alloy; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Nose ornament; 7th-12th century; cantilever gold alloy; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Nose ornament; 7th-12th century; cantilever gold alloy; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Footed bowl depicting a pair of monkeys; 750–1250; resist-painted ceramic; height: 8.9 cm (31⁄2 in.), diameter of the bowl: 20.48 cm (81⁄16 in.), diameter of the foot: 7.94 cm (31⁄8 in.); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)
    Footed bowl depicting a pair of monkeys; 750–1250; resist-painted ceramic; height: 8.9 cm (31⁄2 in.), diameter of the bowl: 20.48 cm (81⁄16 in.), diameter of the foot: 7.94 cm (31⁄8 in.); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)
  • Gourd-shaped vessel; 850–1500; resist-painted ceramic; height: 26.35 cm (103⁄8in.), diameter: 20.32 cm (8 in.); Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    Gourd-shaped vessel; 850–1500; resist-painted ceramic; height: 26.35 cm (103⁄8in.), diameter: 20.32 cm (8 in.); Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Quimbaya

Main article:
Quimbaya civilization
  • Lime container; 5th-9th century; gold; 23 cm (9 in) high; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City). Likely used by a member of the Quimbaya elite
    Lime container; 5th-9th century; gold; 23 cm (9 in) high; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City). Likely used by a member of the
    Quimbaya
    elite
  • Two statues caciques sitting on stools; Museum of the Americas (Madrid, Spain)
    Two statues caciques sitting on stools;
    Museum of the Americas (Madrid
    , Spain)
  • Quimbaya airplanes in Museum of the Americas (Madrid)
    Quimbaya airplanes in Museum of the Americas (Madrid)
  • Ceramic figurine with tumbaga decoration; 1200–1500; Museum of the Americas
    Ceramic figurine with tumbaga decoration; 1200–1500; Museum of the Americas

Muisca

Main article: Muisca art

Zenú

Main article: Zenú § Pre-Columbian period
  • Two-headed deer-shaped ornament; circa 400–1000; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)
    Two-headed deer-shaped ornament; circa 400–1000; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)
  • Owl-shaped ornament; circa 400–1000; Cleveland Museum of Art
    Owl-shaped ornament; circa 400–1000; Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Bird finial; 5th–10th century; gold; height 12.1 cm (43⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Bird finial; 5th–10th century; gold; height 12.1 cm (43⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Olla with annular base and modeled figures; 500–1550; ceramic yellow-ware; height: 28.6 cm (11.2 in); width: 31.8 cm (12.5 in); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
    Olla with annular base and modeled figures; 500–1550; ceramic yellow-ware; height: 28.6 cm (11.2 in); width: 31.8 cm (12.5 in); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)

Tairona

Main article: Tairona § Arts and crafts
  • Small footed bowl with tiger head handles; 1000–1500; earthenware; 5 × 10.1 cm (2 × 4 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
    Small footed bowl with tiger head handles; 1000–1500; earthenware; 5 × 10.1 cm (2 × 4 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
  • Ancestral figure; 1000–1550; brown stone; height: 18.1 cm (7.1 in), width: 4.8 cm (1.8 in); Walters Art Museum
    Ancestral figure; 1000–1550; brown stone; height: 18.1 cm (7.1 in), width: 4.8 cm (1.8 in); Walters Art Museum
  • Anthropomorphic pendant; 1000–1550; gold alloy casting; width: 14.6 cm (53⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Anthropomorphic pendant; 1000–1550; gold alloy casting; width: 14.6 cm (53⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Anthropomorphic pendant; 18th century; gold; height: 13 cm (5.1 in), width: 13 cm (5.1 in), depth: 4.5 cm (1.7 in); Musée du Quai Branly (Paris)
    Anthropomorphic pendant; 18th century; gold; height: 13 cm (5.1 in), width: 13 cm (5.1 in), depth: 4.5 cm (1.7 in);
    Musée du Quai Branly
    (Paris)

Andes Region

See also:
Norte Chico civilization and Andean textiles

Valdivia

Main article: Valdivia culture

Chavín

Main article: Chavín culture § Art

Paracas

Nasca

Moche

Main article: Moche culture § Material culture

Recuay

Main article: Recuay culture
  • Seated figure; 2nd century BCE-3rd century CE; stone; 63.5 × 44.45 × 20.32 cm (25 × 171⁄2 × 8 in.); weight: 102.5129 kg (226 lb.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Seated figure; 2nd century BCE-3rd century CE; stone; 63.5 × 44.45 × 20.32 cm (25 × 171⁄2 × 8 in.); weight: 102.5129 kg (226 lb.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Effigy bottle; 200 BCE 500 CE; earthenware & slip paint; height: 28.2 cm (11.1 in.), diameter: 20.5 cm (8 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
    Effigy bottle; 200 BCE 500 CE; earthenware & slip paint; height: 28.2 cm (11.1 in.), diameter: 20.5 cm (8 in.); Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, USA)
  • Vase with music scene; 300 BCE-300 CE painted clay; height: 21.5 cm; from northern coastal region of Peru; Kloster Allerheiligen (Schaffhausen; Switzerland)
    Vase with music scene; 300 BCE-300 CE painted clay; height: 21.5 cm; from northern coastal region of Peru; Kloster Allerheiligen (Schaffhausen; Switzerland)
  • Textile fragment; 4th–6th century; camelid hair; overall: 33.02 x 82.55 cm (13 × 321⁄2 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Textile fragment; 4th–6th century; camelid hair; overall: 33.02 x 82.55 cm (13 × 321⁄2 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tolita

Main article: Pre-Columbian Ecuador § La Tolita Culture
  • Standing figure; 1st century BCE-1st century CE; emossed gold; height: 22.9 cm (9 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Standing figure; 1st century BCE-1st century CE; emossed gold; height: 22.9 cm (9 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Nose-ornament; 1st-5th century; gold and embossed silver; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Nose-ornament; 1st-5th century; gold and embossed silver; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wari

Main article: Wari culture
See also:
Wari empire

Lambayeque/Sican

Main article: Sican culture
  • Beaker cups; 9th-11th century; gold; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Beaker cups; 9th-11th century; gold; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Cup; 900–1100; Art Institute of Chicago (USA)
    Cup; 900–1100; Art Institute of Chicago (USA)
  • Sican headdress mask; 10th-11th century; gold, silver & paint; height: 29.2 cm (111⁄2 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Sican headdress mask; 10th-11th century; gold, silver & paint; height: 29.2 cm (111⁄2 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Ceremonial knife (tumi); 10th-13th century; gold, turquoise, greenstone & shell; height: 33 cm (1 ft. 1 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Ceremonial knife (tumi); 10th-13th century; gold, turquoise, greenstone & shell; height: 33 cm (1 ft. 1 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tiwanaku

Main article: Tiwanaku
  • Closeup of carved stone tenon-head embedded in wall of Tiwanaku's Semi-subterranean Temple
    Closeup of carved stone tenon-head embedded in wall of Tiwanaku's Semi-subterranean Temple
  • Anthropomorphic receptacle
    Anthropomorphic receptacle
  • Ponce stela in the sunken courtyard of the Tiwanaku's Kalasasaya temple
    Ponce stela in the sunken courtyard of the Tiwanaku's Kalasasaya temple

Capulí

Main article: Capulí culture
  • Pendant; 4th–10th century; gold; height: 14.6 cm (53⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Pendant; 4th–10th century; gold; height: 14.6 cm (53⁄4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Face-shaped plaque; 7th–12th century; gold; diameter: 1.9 cm (35⁄8 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Face-shaped plaque; 7th–12th century; gold; diameter: 1.9 cm (35⁄8 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Male figure-shaped coca chewer on bench; 9th–15th century; ceramic; height: 21.6 cm (81⁄2 in.), width: 10.2 cm (4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Male figure-shaped coca chewer on bench; 9th–15th century; ceramic; height: 21.6 cm (81⁄2 in.), width: 10.2 cm (4 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Bowl supported by 3 figures; 850–1500; resist-painted ceramic; height: 28.58 cm (111⁄4 in.), diameter of the bowl: 19.69 cm (73⁄4 in.); from Colombia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)
    Bowl supported by 3 figures; 850–1500; resist-painted ceramic; height: 28.58 cm (111⁄4 in.), diameter of the bowl: 19.69 cm (73⁄4 in.); from Colombia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)

Chimú empire

  • Chimú gold apparel, 1300 CE, Larco Museum, Lima, Perú
    Chimú gold apparel, 1300 CE, Larco Museum
    , Lima, Perú
  • Ceramic llama vessel, 1100–1400 CE, Museo de América, Madrid, Spain
    Ceramic llama vessel, 1100–1400 CE, Museo de América, Madrid, Spain
  • Chimu mantle, Late Intermediate Period, 1000–1476 CE, featuring pelicans and tuna
    Chimu mantle, Late Intermediate Period, 1000–1476 CE, featuring pelicans and tuna

Chancay

  • Beaded wrist ornament, ca. 1100–1399 CE, hand-ground shell beads, cordage, 4.25 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Beaded wrist ornament, ca. 1100–1399 CE, hand-ground shell beads, cordage, 4.25 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Fragment ofslit tapestry with eccentric weave and applied fringe, 1000–1470, camelid fiber and cotton, 163⁄4 x 18 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    Fragment ofslit tapestry with eccentric weave and applied fringe, 1000–1470, camelid fiber and cotton, 163⁄4 x 18 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Vessel; 1000–1470; earthenware, slip paint; height: 29.6 cm (11.6 in.); diameter: 12.1 cm (4.7 in.); Walters Art Museum
    Vessel; 1000–1470; earthenware, slip paint; height: 29.6 cm (11.6 in.); diameter: 12.1 cm (4.7 in.); Walters Art Museum

Inca

Main articles:
Inca § Arts and technology, Inca Empire § Arts and technology, and Inca architecture
  • Hammered and Repoussed gold mural
    Hammered and
    Repoussed
    gold mural
  • Inca tunic
    Inca tunic
  • Silver and gold Inca statuettes, from the Musee D'Auch
    Silver and gold Inca statuettes, from the Musee D'Auch

Amazonia

See also: Weaving § Amazonia

Traditionally limited in access to stone and metals, Amazonian

indigenous peoples excel at featherwork, painting, textiles, and ceramics. Caverna da Pedra Pintada (Cave of the Painted Rock) in the Pará state of Brazil houses the oldest firmly dated art in the Americas – rock paintings dating back 11,000 years. The cave is also the site of the oldest ceramics in the Americas, from 5000 BCE.[44]

The Island of Marajó, at the mouth of the Amazon River was a major center of ceramic traditions as early as 1000 CE[44] and continues to produce ceramics today, characterized by cream-colored bases painted with linear, geometric designs of red, black, and white slips.

With access to a wide range of native bird species, Amazonian

indigenous peoples excel at feather work, creating brilliant colored headdresses, jewelry, clothing, and fans. Iridescent beetle wings are incorporated into earrings and other jewelry. Weaving and basketry also thrive in the Amazon, as noted among the Urarina of Peru.[45]

Modern and contemporary

Drawing class at the Phoenix Indian School, 1900

Beginnings of contemporary Native American art

Pinpointing the exact time of emergence of "modern" and contemporary Native art is problematic. In the past, Western art historians have considered use of Western art media or exhibiting in international art arena as criteria for "modern" Native American art history.

Cuzco School of Peru featured Quechua easel painters in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first cabinets of curiosities
in the 16th century, precursors to modern museums, featured Native American art.

The notion that fine art cannot be functional has not gained widespread acceptance in the Native American art world, as evidenced by the high esteem and value placed upon rugs, blankets, basketry, weapons, and other utilitarian items in Native American art shows. A dichotomy between fine art and craft is not commonly found in contemporary Native art. For example, the Cherokee Nation honors its greatest artists as Living Treasures, including frog- and fish-gig makers, flint knappers, and basket weavers, alongside sculptors, painters, and textile artists.[49] Art historian Dawn Ades writes, "Far from being inferior, or purely decorative, crafts like textiles or ceramics, have always had the possibility of being the bearers of vital knowledge, beliefs and myths."[50]

Recognizable art markets between Natives and non-Natives emerged upon contact, but the 1820–1840s were a highly prolific time. In the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes region, tribes dependent upon the rapidly diminishing fur trade adopted art production a means of financial support. A painting movement known as the Iroquois Realist School emerged among the Haudenosaunee in New York in the 1820s, spearheaded by the brothers David and Dennis Cusick.[51]

African-Ojibwe sculptor,

Credit River Indian Reserve. Lewis exhibited widely, and a testament to her popularity during her own time was that President Ulysses S. Grant commissioned her to carve his portrait in 1877.[52]

Ho-Chunk artist, Angel De Cora was the best known Native American artist before World War I.[53] She was taken from her reservation and family to the Hampton Institute, where she began her lengthy formal art training.[54] Active in the Arts and Crafts movement, De Cora exhibited her paintings and design widely and illustrated books by Native authors. She strove to be tribally specific in her work and was revolutionary for portraying Indians in contemporary clothing of the early 20th century. She taught art to young Native students at Carlisle Indian Industrial School and was an outspoken advocate of art as a means for Native Americans to maintain cultural pride, while finding a place in mainstream society.[55]

The Kiowa Six, a group of Kiowa painters from Oklahoma, met with international success when their mentor, Oscar Jacobson, showed their paintings in First International Art Exposition in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1928.[56] They also participated in the 1932 Venice Biennale, where their art display, according to Dorothy Dunn, "was acclaimed the most popular exhibit among all the rich and varied displays assembled."[57]

The

Indigenist art movements flourished in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico, most famously with the Mexican Muralist movements
.

Basketry

Onondaga conceptual artist Gail Tremblay weaves baskets in the traditional fancywork patterns of her tribes from exposed film. Basketry can take many forms. Haida artist Lisa Telford uses cedar bark to weave both traditional functional baskets and impractical but beautiful cedar evening gowns and high-heeled shoes.[59]

A range of native grasses provides material for Arctic baskets, as does baleen, which is a 20th-century development. Baleen baskets are typically embellished with walrus ivory carvings.[58] Cedar bark is often used in northwest coastal baskets. Throughout the Great Lakes and northeast, black ash and sweetgrass are woven into fancy work, featuring "porcupine" points, or decorated as strawberries. Bark baskets are traditional for gathering berries. Rivercane is the preferred material in the Southeast, and Chitimachas are regarded as the finest rivercane weavers. In Oklahoma, rivercane is prized but rare so baskets are typically made of honeysuckle or buckbrush runners. Coiled baskets are popular in the southwest and the Hopi and Apache in particular are known for pictorial coiled basketry plaques. The Tohono O'odham are well known for their basket-weaving prowess, and evidenced by the success of Annie Antone and Terrol Dew Johnson.

Kumeyaay coiled basket, Celestine Lachapa of Inajo, late 19th century

California and Great Basin tribes are considered some of the finest basket weavers in the world. Juncus is a common material in southern California, while sedge, willow, redbud, and devil's claw are also used. Pomo basket weavers are known to weave 60–100 stitches per inch and their rounded, coiled baskets adorned with quail's topknots, feathers, abalone, and clamshell discs are known as "treasure baskets". Three of the most celebrated Californian basket weavers were Elsie Allen (Pomo), Laura Somersal (Wappo), and the late Pomo-Patwin medicine woman, Mabel McKay,[60] known for her biography, Weaving the Dream. Louisa Keyser was a highly influential Washoe basket weaver.

Yurok women's basketry caps, Northern California

A complex technique called "doubleweave," which involves continuously weaving both an inside and outside surface is shared by the

natural dyes
.

Embera woman selling coiled baskets, Panama

Waura tribe in Brazil, men weave baskets. They weave a wide range of styles, but the largest are called mayaku, which can be two feet wide and feature tight weaves with an impressive array of designs.[62]

Today basket weaving often leads to environmental activism. Indiscriminate pesticide spraying endangers basket weavers' health. The

Tohono O'odham basket weaver Terrol Dew Johnson, known for his experimental use of gourds, beargrass, and other desert plants, took his interest in native plants and founded Tohono O'odham Community Action, which provides traditional wild desert foods for his tribe.[65]

Beadwork

Examples of contemporary Native American beadwork

Beadwork is a quintessentially Native American art form, but ironically uses beads imported from Europe and Asia. Glass beads have been in use for almost five centuries in the Americas. Today a wide range of beading styles flourish.

In the Great Lakes, Ursuline nuns introduced floral patterns to tribes, who quickly applied them to beadwork.

Penobscot, and Haudenosaunee tribes are known for symmetrical scroll motifs in white beads, called the "double curve."[69] Iroquois are also known for "embossed" beading in which strings pulled taut force beads to pop up from the surface, creating a bas-relief. Tammy Rahr (Cayuga) is a contemporary practitioner of this style. Zuni
artists have developed a tradition of three-dimensional beaded sculptures.

Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico have a unique approach to beadwork. They adhere beads, one by one, to a surface, such as wood or a gourd, with a mixture of resin and beeswax.[70]

Most Native beadwork is created for tribal use but beadworkers also create conceptual work for the art world.

cradleboards. Another Kiowa beadworker, Teri Greeves has won top honors for her beadwork, which consciously integrates both traditional and contemporary motifs, such as beaded dancers on Converse high-tops. Greeves also beads on buckskin and explores such issues as warfare or Native American voting rights.[71]

Marcus Amerman, Choctaw, one of today's most celebrated bead artists, pioneered a movement of highly realistic beaded portraits.[72] His imagery ranges from 19th century Native leaders to pop icons such as Janet Jackson and Brooke Shields.

Roger Amerman, Marcus' brother, and Martha Berry, Cherokee, have effectively revived Southeastern beadwork, a style that had been lost because of forced removal from tribes to Indian Territory. Their beadwork commonly features white bead outlines, an echo of the shell beads or pearls Southeastern tribes used before contact.[73]

Jamie Okuma (

Bannock) was won top awards with her beaded dolls, which can include entire families or horses and riders, all with fully beaded regalia. The antique Venetian beads she uses can as small as size 22°, about the size of a grain of salt.[74] Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty
, Rhonda Holy Bear, and Charlene Holy Bear are also prominent beaded dollmakers.

The widespread popularity of glass beads does not mean aboriginal bead making is dead. Perhaps the most famous Native bead is

Eastern Band Cherokee) creates wampum jewelry today, including wampum belts.[76]

Ceramics

Main article:
Ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Mata Ortiz pottery jar by Jorge Quintana, 2002. Displayed at Museum of Man, San Diego, California

Ceramics have been created in the Americas for the last 8000 years, as evidenced by pottery found in Caverna da Pedra Pintada in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon.[77] The Island of Marajó in Brazil remains a major center of ceramic art today.[78] In Mexico, Mata Ortiz pottery continues the ancient Casas Grandes tradition of polychrome pottery. Juan Quezada is one of the leading potters from Mata Ortiz.[79]

In the Southeast, the

Jereldine Redcorn
.

Pueblo people are particularly known for their ceramic traditions.

elder telling stories to groups of smaller figures.[81]

While northern potters are not as well known as their southern counterparts, ceramic arts extend as far north as the Arctic. Inuit potter,

Cape Dorset uses a pottery wheel to create her prizewinning ceramics.[82]

Today contemporary Native potters create a wide range of ceramics from functional pottery to monumental ceramic sculpture.

Cochiti Pueblo
is known for his ceramic bowls, painted with satirical scenes that combine Ancestral Pueblo, Greek, and pop culture imagery. Hundreds more Native contemporary ceramic artists are taking pottery in new directions.

Jewelry

Main articles: Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America, Native American jewelry, and Mapuche silverwork

Performance art

Museum of Contemporary Native Art

Performance art is a new art form, emerging in the 1960s, and so does not carry the cultural baggage of many other art genres. Performance art can draw upon storytelling traditions, as well as music and dance, and often includes elements of installation, video, film, and textile design.

Luiseño-Mexican performance artist, also participated in the Venice Biennale in 2005,[84] representing the National Museum of the American Indian
.

Performance allows artists to confront their audience directly, challenge long held stereotypes, and bring up current issues, often in an emotionally charged manner. "[P]eople just howl in their seats, and there's ranting and booing or hissing, carrying on in the audience," says Rebecca Belmore of the response to her work.[85] She has created performances to call attention to violence against and many unsolved murders of First Nations women. Both Belmore and Luna create elaborate, often outlandish outfits and props for their performances and move through a range of characters. For instance, a repeating character of Luna's is Uncle Jimmy,[86] a disabled veteran who criticizes greed and apathy on his reservation.

On the other hand, Marcus Amerman, a Choctaw performance artist, maintains a consistent role of the Buffalo Man, whose irony and social commentary arise from the odd situations in which he finds himself, for instance a James Bond movie or lost in a desert labyrinth.[87] Jeff Marley, Cherokee, pulls from the tradition of the "booger dance" to create subversive, yet humorous, interventions that take history and place into account.[88]

Athabaskan, explores her mixed-race identity and conflicts about the ideas of home through her performance art. In her words, "In order to sustain a genuine self, I create a world in which I shift to become one or all of my multiple visions of self."[89] She has suntanned phrases into her skin, donned cross-cultural and cross-gender disguises, and incorporated songs, ranging from Inupiaq throat singing
to racist children's rhymes into her work.

A Bolivian

street theater to bring attention to issues of women's, indigenous people's, and lesbian's rights, as well as anti-poverty issues. Julieta Paredes, María Galindo
and Mónica Mendoza are founding members.

Performance art has allowed Native Americans access to the international art world, and Rebecca Belmore mentions that her audiences are non-Native;[85] however, Native American audiences also respond to this genre. Bringing It All Back Home, a 1997 film collaboration between James Luna and Chris Eyre, documents Luna's first performance at his own home, the La Jolla Indian Reservation. Luna describes the experience as "probably the scariest moment of my life as an artist ... performing for the members of my reservation in the tribal hall."[90]

Photography

Main article:
Photography by indigenous peoples of the Americas
Martín Chambi (Peru), photo of a man at Machu Picchu, published in Inca Land. Explorations in the Highlands of Peru, 1922
Annette Island, Alaska,[91] Jennie Ross Cobb (Cherokee Nation, 1881–1959) of Park Hill, Oklahoma, and Richard Throssel (Cree, 1882–1933) of Montana. Their early photographs stand in stark contrast to the romanticized images of Edward Curtis and other contemporaries. Scholarship by Mique’l Askren (Tsimshian/Tlingit) on the photographs of B.A. Haldane has analyzed the functions that Haldane's photographs served for his community: as markers of success by having Anglo-style formal portraits taken, and as markers of the continuity of potlatching and traditional ceremonials by having photographs taken in ceremonial regalia. This second category is particularly significant because the use of the ceremonial regalia was against the law in Canada between 1885 and 1951.[92]

Cape Dorset, Nunavut, documented Inuit life in the mid-20th century while dealing with challenges presented by the harsh climate and extreme light conditions of the Canadian Arctic. He developed his film himself in his igloo, and some of his photos were shot by oil lamps. Following in the footsteps of early Kiowa amateur photographers Parker McKenzie(1897–1999) and Nettie Odlety McKenzie (1897–1978), Horace Poolaw (Kiowa, 1906–1984) shot over 2000 images of his neighbors and relatives in Western Oklahoma from the 1920s onward. Jean Fredericks (Hopi, 1906–1990) carefully negotiated Hopi cultural views toward photography and did not offer his portraits of Hopi people for sale to the public.[93]

Today innumerable Native people are professional art photographers; however, acceptance to the genre has met with challenges.

UC Davis
featuring Native American photographers. Tsinhnahjinnie wrote the book, Our People, Our Land, Our Images: International Indigenous Photographers. Native photographers have taken their skills into the fields of art videography, photocollage, digital photography, and digital art.

Printmaking

Although it is widely speculated that the ancient

serigraphy, monotyping
, and other practices.

Printmaking has flourished among

Holman, and Pangnirtung. These shops have experimented with etching, engraving, lithography, and silkscreen. Shops produced annual catalogs advertising their collections. Local birds and animals, spirit beings, and hunting scenes are the most popular subject matter,[94] but are allegorical in nature.[95] Backgrounds tend to be minimal and perspective is mixed.[96] One of the most prominent of Cape Dorset artists is Kenojuak Ashevak (born 1927), who has received many public commissions and two honorary doctorate degrees.[96] Other prominent Inuit printmakers and graphic artists include Parr, Osuitok Ipeelee, Germaine Arnaktauyok, Pitseolak Ashoona, Tivi Etok, Helen Kalvak, Jessie Oonark, Kananginak Pootoogook, Pudlo Pudlat, Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq, and Simon Tookoome. Inuit printmaker Andrew Qappik designed the coat of arms of Nunavut
.

Many Native painters transformed their paintings into fine art prints.

T.C. Cannon
traveled to Japan to study wood block printing from master printers.

In Chile,

Santos Chávez (1934–2001) was one of the most celebrated artists of his country – with over 85 solo exhibitions during his lifetime.[97]

Walla Walla artist, James Lavadour founded Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon in 1992. Crow's Shadow features a state-of-the-art printmaking studio and offers workshops, exhibition space, and printmaking residencies for Native artists, in which they pair visiting artists with master printers.[98]

Sculpture

Native Americans have created sculpture, both monumental and small, for millennia. Stone sculptures are ubiquitous through the Americas, in the forms of

Taíno of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are known for their zemis
– sacred, three-pointed stone sculptures.

Inuit artists sculpt with walrus ivory, caribou antlers, bones, soapstone, serpentinite, and argillite. They often represent local fauna and humans engaged in hunting or ceremonial activities.

Santa Clara Pueblo) is known for her expressive, figurative, ceramic sculptures but has also branched into bronze casting, and her work is permanently displayed at the National Museum of the American Indian
.

The Northwest Coastal tribes are known for their woodcarving – most famously their monumental

Isleta Pueblo).[99]

In the Southeast, woodcarving dominates sculpture.

Eastern Band Cherokee) studied sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago and returned to her reservation to teach over 2000 students woodcarving over a period of 40 years, ensuring that sculpture thrives as an art form on the Qualla Boundary.[100]

  • For Life in all Directions, Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo), bronze, NMAI
    For Life in all Directions,
    Santa Clara Pueblo), bronze, NMAI
  • Pai Tavytera traditional woodcarving, Amambay Department, Paraguay, 2008
    Amambay Department, Paraguay
    , 2008
  • Each/Other by Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger, 2021
    Each/Other by Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger, 2021

Textiles

Main article:
Textile arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Lorena Lemunguier Quezada (Mapuche) with two of her weavings at the Bienal de Arte Indígena, Santiago, Chile
Kaqchikel Maya sash, Santa Catarina Palopó, Guatemala, c. 2006–07

Fiberwork dating back 10,000 years has been unearthed from Guitarrero Cave in Peru.[101] Cotton and wool from alpaca, llamas, and vicuñas have been woven into elaborate textiles for thousands of years in the Andes and are still important parts of Quechua and Aymara culture today. Coroma in Antonio Quijarro Province, Bolivia is a major center for ceremonial textile production.[102] An Aymara elder from Coroma said, "In our sacred weavings are expressions of our philosophy, and the basis for our social organization... The sacred weavings are also important in differentiating one community, or ethnic group, from a neighboring group..."[103]

Kuna woman with molas, San Blas Islands, Panama

pop culture. Two mola panels form a blouse, but when a Kuna woman is tired of a blouse, she can disassemble it and sell the molas to art collectors.[104]

Mayan women have woven cotton with backstrap looms for centuries, creating items such as huipils or traditional blouses. Elaborate Maya textiles featured representations of animals, plants, and figures from oral history.[105] Organizing into weaving collectives have helped Mayan women earn better money for their work and greatly expand the reach of Mayan textiles in the world.

Seminole seamstresses, upon gaining access to sewing machines in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, invented an elaborate appliqué patchwork tradition. Seminole patchwork, for which the tribe is known today, came into full flower in the 1920s.[106]

Great Lakes and Prairie tribes are known for their

ribbonwork, found on clothing and blankets. Strips of silk ribbons are cut and appliquéd in layers, creating designs defined by negative space. The colors and designs might reflect the clan or gender of the wearer. Powwow and other dance regalia from these tribes often feature ribbonwork. These tribes are also known for their fingerwoven
sashes.

Pueblo men weave with cotton on upright looms. Their mantas and sashes are typically made for ceremonial use for the community, not for outside collectors.

Seminole patchwork shawl made by Susie Cypress from Big Cypress Indian Reservation, c. 1980s

Navajo-Churro sheep or commercial wool. Designs can be pictorial or abstract, based on traditional Navajo, Spanish, Oriental, or Persian designs. 20th-century Navajo weavers include Clara Sherman and Hosteen Klah, who co-founded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
.

In 1973, the Navajo Studies Department of the Diné College in Many Farms, Arizona, wanted to determine how long it took a Navajo weaver to create a rug or blanket from sheep shearing to market. The study determined the total amount of time was 345 hours. Out of these 345 hours, the expert Navajo weaver needed: 45 hours to shear the sheep and process the wool; 24 hours to spin the wool; 60 hours to prepare the dye and to dye the wool; 215 hours to weave the piece; and only one hour to sell the item in their shop.[107]

Customary textiles of Northwest Coast peoples using non-Western materials and techniques are enjoying a dramatic revival.

Tlingit weaver Jennie Thlunaut
(1982–1986) was instrumental in this revival.

Experimental 21st-century textile artists include

Navajo
) explore non-representational abstraction and use experimental materials in their weaving.

Cultural sensitivity and repatriation

As in most cultures, Native peoples create some works that are to be used only in sacred, private ceremonies. Many sacred objects or items that contain medicine are to be seen or touched by certain individuals with specialized knowledge. Many

Pueblo and Hopi katsina figures (tihü in Hopi and kokko in Zuni) and katsinam regalia are not meant to be seen by individuals who have not received instruction about that particular katsina. Many institutions do not display these publicly out of respect for tribal taboos.[110]

medicine people.[112]

Navajo sandpainting is a component for healing ceremonies, but sandpaintings can be made into permanent art that is acceptable to sell to non-Natives as long as Holy People are not portrayed.[113]
Various tribes prohibit photography of many sacred ceremonies, as used to be the case in many Western cultures. As several early photographers broke local laws, photographs of sensitive ceremonies are in circulation, but tribes prefer that they not be displayed. The same can be said for photographs or sketches of medicine bundle contents.

Two

Haudenosaunee has ruled that such masks are not for sale or public display,[13] nor are Corn Husk Society masks.[14]

Tribes and individuals within tribes do not always agree about what is or is not appropriate to display to the public. Many institutions do not exhibit

Cusco, Peru.[118]

Museum representation

Indigenous American arts have had a long and complicated relationship with museum representation since the early 1900s. In 1931, The Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts was the first large scale show that held Indigenous art on display. Their portrayal in museums grew more common later in the 1900s as a reaction to the Civil Rights Movement. With the rising trend of representation in the political atmosphere, minority voices gained more representation in museums as well.[119]

Although Indigenous art was being displayed, the curatorial choices on how to display their work were not always made with the best of intentions. For instance, Native American art pieces and artifacts would often be shown alongside dinosaur bones, implying that they are a people of the past and non-existent or irrelevant in today's world.[120] Native American remains were on display in museums up until the 1960s.[121]

Though many did not yet view Native American art as a part of the mainstream as of the year 1992, there has since then been a great increase in volume and quality of both Native art and artists, as well as exhibitions and venues, and individual curators. Such leaders as the director of the National Museum of the American Indian insist that Native American representation be done from a first-hand perspective.[122] The establishment of such museums as the Heard Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian, both of which trained spotlights specifically upon Native American arts, enabled a great number of Native artists to display and develop their work.[123] For five months starting in October 2017, three Native American works of art selected from the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection to be exhibited in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[124]

Museum representation for Indigenous artists calls for great responsibility from curators and museum institutions. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 prohibits non-Indigenous artists from exhibiting as Native American artists. Institutions and curators work discussing whom to represent, why are they being chosen, what Indigenous art looks like, and what its purpose is. Museums, as educational institutions, give light to cultures and narratives that would otherwise go unseen; they provide a necessary spotlight and who they choose to represent is pivotal to the history of the represented artists and culture.

See also

Citations

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References

General

North America

Mesoamerica and Central America

South America

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indigenous art of the Americas.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pre-Columbian art.
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