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FIG. 5 (right):
Shaman’s atlatl.
Tlingit, Alaska. 1750–1800.
Wood, shell, trade beads. L: 39.4 cm.
Photo: Steve Tucker/Chuck Dorris.
Last December, I received an email
from an unfamiliar woman about reviewing a
book that had been produced on a private collection
of Native American art, a copy of which
was in the mail to me. “I’ll keep my eye out for
it,” I said. “You can’t miss it,” she said. Truer
words have never been spoken. In due course,
a hefty package arrived and from it emerged a
three-volume slip-cased edition weighing nearly
twelve pounds. What was in its pages was even
more impressive. I’ve been editing this magazine
for almost twenty-five years and I know most of
the players in this field, at least by reputation,
but how could I possibly not have heard of this
Steven Michaan, who had built such an extraordinary
collection of art from the Arctic, Northwest
Coast, and Woodlands? I knew many of the
pieces, but not the collector. This had to change.
Some months later I took a train north from
New York City and was met by my correspondent,
Steve’s assistant, Susan, who drove me to
a small but exquisite home set in rolling forestland.
I met Steve, who is unassuming but passionate
about art and has been actively collecting
at a very high level while maintaining a very
low profile. I was treated to the opportunity
to spend some time with him and his truly remarkable
collection and, over lunch in a nearby
early nineteenth-century inn, we chatted about
his interests.
Tribal Art Magazine: You’ve been an avid
collector in many fields over the years. Tell us a
little about that.
Steven Michaan: I have collected all my life.
In my youth I began collecting stamps, coins,
and swords. As a university student at U.C.
Berkeley I began assembling a collection of
Edward S. Curtis prints, many of which hang
in my house to this day. I also collected M. C.
Escher prints that I bought from the artist
himself. I spent the next decade focusing
on decorative arts and specializing in Louis
Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows.
Being an avid fisherman and a collector, I
was led to collecting antique fish decoys. I
assembled an important collection of American
ice fishing decoys. It became the basis of major
exhibitions, most notably, Beneath the Ice: The
Art of the Fish Decoy, which premiered at the
FIGS. 1 and 2 (left):
Part of the Steven Michaan
Collection in his home.
Photo courtesy of Steven Michaan.
FIG. 3 (below):
Steven Michaan Atlantic
salmon fishing on the
Cascapedia River in
Quebec.
Photo courtesy of Steven Michaan.