Synopses & Reviews
The decades of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s were a time of growth and change in producing, marketing, and collecting Native American artwork and craftwork. During this time William R. Wright amassed a collection notable for its broad representation of twentieth-century Native American products. Focusing on the Southwest, he included contemporary Pueblo ceramics, Navajo and Hopi textiles, Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni jewelry, and baskets from some forty different Native American groups. The objects Wright gathered, which are now part of the collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, reflect developments in the intersecting worlds of makers, markets, and collectors, including the challenges faced by makers to successfully balance tradition and innovation in their work and their lives.
This volume examines selected objects from the Wright collection to explore the market-influenced environment of modern Native American makers and their work, from what some consider the low end of tourist art multiples to the high end of unique, signed fine art objects.
Synopsis
This well-illustrated book studies pieces from the Peabody Museum's Wright collection of twentieth-century Pueblo pottery, Navajo and Hopi textiles, and baskets from a range of southwestern and other Native American peoples. The book also discusses the market-influenced environment of modern Native American art, ranging from what some might consider the low end of tourist art multiples to the high end of unique, signed fine art objects.
Makers and Markets describes the changing Indian art collecting environment from the late 1950s to the early 1990s, exploring the world of the modern Indian artist, illustrating concurrent approaches to community and art market ideas, and trends in design and marketing.
Synopsis
Discusses the market-influenced environment of modern Native American art, ranging from the low end of tourist art multiples to the high end of unique, signed fine art objects.
About the Author
Hillel S. Burger is a professional photographer.
Harvard University
Table of Contents
Introduction and Acknowledgments Penelope Ballard Drooker and Patricia Capone Chapter 1. William R. Wright and His Collection
Penelope Ballard Drooker
The Collecting Environment
The Collector
The Collection
Chapter 2. The Wright Collection of Southwestern Pottery: Perspectives on Pottery Making and Collecting
Patricia Capone
Pottery Production in the Southwest
Collecting the Wright Collection
Why "Pottery?"
Perspectives on Pottery and Pueblo Life
Pottery Practice in the Next Century
Sources and Makers of the Wright Collection of Pueblo Pottery
Color Plates
Chapter 3. Change and Continuity in Native American Textiles and Basketry: Examples from the Wright Collection
Penelope Ballard Drooker
Trade among Tribes: A Continuing Tradition
Negotiating Products for Cross-Cultural Markets
Weaving Lives
Color Plates
Chapter 4. A Quantitative Summary of Wright Collection Objects
Penelope Ballard Drooker
Notes
Text
Color Plates
Figures and Maps
References
Photographic Credits
Index