Lines on the Horizon 105 in the newly emergent fields of anthropology and archaeology began to document the ancient, historic, and contemporary indigenous peoples of the Southwest and their material cultures. Large numbers of objects, including archaeological artifacts, ceramics, and baskets produced for the burgeoning commercial market in “Indian curios” and items of inestimable sacred and cultural importance, made their way into the living rooms of collectors and the galleries and storerooms of museums. The sometimes uneasy and often asymmetrical relationships between investigator and subject that emerged in this period led to many myths, some of which concern the well-known artist Nampeyo of Hano Pueblo (c.1860–1942). Born to a Hopi father and a Tewa mother, Nampeyo was an accomplished ceramicist by the 1880s. Although later retellings of her life underestimated her familiarity with ancient traditions, she was almost certainly familiar with Sikyatki pottery, as the ruins lay near Hano. The site was not officially excavated until 1895, but the Hopi and others were clearly already aware of its location and importance. As Zuni ceramicists of the late nineteenth century used ancient sherds of high-end wares as temper in new vessels, Nampeyo and other painters appropriated the older materials by developing new artistic vocabularies inspired by the ancient designs (figs. 6a–b). Many members of her family assisted Nampeyo in finishing individual works after her eyesight deteriorated in the teens and twenties and later became artists in their own right. Since its first appearance in the early 1800s, the Classic Navajo blanket was coveted throughout the Southwest by both native and non-native inhabitants. Today, private and museum collections preserve works from this period and recognize them as a pinnacle of achievement in the canon of Southwest weaving. The refined selection of textiles from the Weisel Family Collection highlights the major developments in Classic-Period Navajo weaving. Descended from Athabascan-speaking tribes, the Navajo migrated into the Southwest from western Canada. They called themselves Dineh, “the People.” It is generally accepted that Navajo women learned to weave from the Pueblo peoples in the late seventeenth century, when the Pueblo, seeking refuge from the Spanish occupation, came to reside with the Navajo. In less than a century, the Navajo emerged as the preeminent weavers of the American Southwest. In 1788, after escorting a Navajo leader, Antonio el Pinto, home from imprisonment in Santa Fe, Spaniard Vincente Troncoso observed, “They make the best and finest serapes that are known, blankets, wraps, cotton cloths, coarse cloth, sashes and other things for their dress and for sale.”* The Classic Period in Navajo weaving is generally considered to extend from 1800 to 1864, a time when many battles were fought among Native Americans, Spanish Americans, Mexicans, and European Americans for control of the western territories. This period of turmoil and transition in the American Southwest exposed the Navajo to new materials, new perspectives, and new markets that resulted in one of the most fertile periods in the emergent textile tradition. By the early 1800s, the Navajo departed from the plain- and twill-weave techniques favored by the Pueblo and began to weave almost exclusively in the tapestry technique, using handspun yarns of natural white and dark brown from the wool of churro sheep, which had been introduced by the Spanish in 1598. These natural hues were supplemented with yarns dyed dark blue using indigo obtained from Spanish settlers and later with red threads raveled from bayeta cloth, which was dyed with the natural insect dyes lac or cochineal and imported from Europe by way of the Santa Fe Trail. Together these components created the distinct Navajo palette of offwhite, dark brown, indigo, and crimson. During the Classic Period, two textile traditions, the chief blanket and the serape-style blanket, advanced as the foremost vehicles for the artistry and innovation of Navajo weavers. Following the Pueblo model, which the Navajo continued, chief blankets were woven on a hori- FIG. 9 (left): Serape. Navajo, Arizona/New Mexico. C. 1850. Wool; weft-faced plain weave, interlocked tapestry weave, eccentric curved weft. 231.1 x 157.5 cm. Promised gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, L12.103.20. FIG. 10: Mask. Tsimshian, Alaska/British Columbia. C. 1800–1850. Wood, pigment, shell inlay. H: 25.5 cm. Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2013.76.125.
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