TRIBAL PEOPLE
124
FIG. 11 (left):
Basket tray, by Juana Basilia
Sitmelelene (Chumash,
1782–1832).
Mission San Buenaventura,
California. C. 1820.
Dyed and undyed juncus stems.
D: 46.7 cm.
On loan from the Charles and Valerie
Diker Collection.
FIG. 12 (right): First phase
chief’s blanket.
Diné/Navajo, Arizona or
New Mexico. C. 1840.
Handspun undyed and indigo-dyed
Churro fl eece, raveled lac-dyed
bayeta. 147.3 x 172.7 cm.
On loan from the Charles and Valerie
Diker Collection.
FIG. 13 (below right):
Basket bowl, by
Louisa Keyser (Washoe,
c. 1831–1925).
Carson City, Nevada. 1907.
Willow and redbud shoots, bracken
fern root, dye. D: 42.2 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, the Charles and Valerie
Diker Collection of Native American
Art, promised gift of Charles and
Valerie Diker, inv. L.2018.35.15.
FIG. 9 (left):
War club. Pawnee, Nebraska.
C. 1800.
Wood, pigment. H: 68.6 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the
Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native
American Art, promised gift of Charles and Valerie
Diker, inv. L.2018.35.64.
FIG. 10 (above): Kiowa Chiefs on a Visit to the Agent, attributed to
Julian Scott Ledger Artist B (Kiowa). Oklahoma. C. 1880.
Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper. 19.1 x 30.5 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Charles and Valerie Diker
Collection of Native American Art, promised gift of Charles and Valerie
Diker, inv. L.2018.35.54.
the public and also preserved for future generations.
The collection was fi rst exhibited in
1998–2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
under the title Native Paths. This was followed
in 2004–2005 with First American Art, co-curated
by Bruce Bernstein and Gerald McMaster,
a major exhibition of more than 200 works at
the National Museum of the American Indian’s
George Gustav Heye Center in New York City.
In 2015–2016, the American Federation of Arts
organized Indigenous Beauty, guest curated by
David W. Penney, and a select group of 122
objects traveled to four major museums in the
United States. Each of the three exhibitions was
accompanied by an illustrated publication, with
entries and essays by distinguished scholars.
Most recently, selected works from the collection
were on view at the Met in an exhibition
titled Native American Masterpieces from the
Charles and Valerie Diker Collection (October
28, 2016–March 31, 2017).
Although the Dikers’ promised gift of ninety
one works in 2017 inspired the move of
Native art to the Met’s American Wing, the