New Frontiers 87 a whole has been continuously expanded upon, with the majority assembled through individual donations between the years of 1936 and 1979. The collection’s particular strengths are in the areas of California, the Great Plains, the Southwest, the Northwest Coast, and the Arctic North. In the late 1970s the museum looked to reinvent itself and broadened its collecting policy beyond local history and the Americas to acquire tribal art from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Art from the South Pacific remains the most active of these collecting areas today. A 1991 expansion of the museum allowed for more exhibition galleries, and under new leadership, the Bowers began partnering with the world’s best-known museums in order to bring exhibitions to Southern California. Partnerships with the British Museum, the Shanghai Museum, Bogotá’s Museo del Oro, the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of History in Taiwan, and others were key to the successful new programming vision of the Bowers. The Bowers first collaborated with China during this time by organizing an exhibition of treasures from Bei- jing’s Forbidden Palace. This collaboration fostered a relationship that has allowed the Bowers to continue to bring exclusive collections—including China’s famed terracotta warriors from Xi’an—to the United States. The Bowers subsequently facilitated the organization and travel of an exhibition of gemstones, as well as an exhibition of watercolors from two American collections for the Shanghai and Nanjing Museums, respectively. Then, in 2006, the Bowers was honored when asked to share its own collection of Maya and West Mexican Preas FIG. 3: Shalako Mana katsina carving. Hopi, Southwest. C. 1890. Cottonwood root, paint, cotton thread. H: 31.8 cm. Bowers Museum, inv. F79.35.1. FIG. 4 (lower left): Standing figure. Yuma, California. C. 1890. Clay, paint, cloth, glass beads, reeds. Bowers Museum, inv. 86.17.14. FIG. 5 (above): First phase chief blanket. Navajo, Southwest. C. 1860. Wool. 180.3 x 142.2 cm. Bowers Museum, inv. 1845.
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