Lasting Legacy

Lasting Legacy (excerpt)

Dedicated dealers, galleries, museums and shows keep historic Native American arts alive and thriving for future generations to covet and collect

Published online courtesy of Western Art Collector, February, 2011

Native American art comprises a major category in the world of art collecting. There are as many different Native American arts, designs and styles as there are tribes and nations. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewelry, weavings, sculpture, basketry, and carvings from hundreds of different tribes sprawling the United States. Collectors seek out these outstanding works of art, as seen by the constant demand at large exhibitions like the Marin Show: Art of the Americas in San Rafael, California, opening in February (see our Event Preview on page 126), plus numerous additional shows throughout the year celebrating these arts. Although many of these historic arts have been lost, there are dedicated dealers, galleries, museums and shows that preserve the historic Native American arts for future generations to covet and collect.

Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery 6872 E Sunrise Drive, Suite 130, Tucson AZ 85750
(800) 422-9382 www.medicinemangallery.com

Navajo Late Classic Serape, c. 1870, 72"x50"

Courtesy Mark Sublete Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ and Santa Fe, NM

Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, with locations in Tucson and Santa Fe, has one of the largest inventories of Native American art in the country. The gallery generally has 500-year-old Navajo rugs and blankets on hand at any given moment. There also is a significant collection of Native American pueblo pottery, Pueblo paintings, Indian baskets, Hopi kachinas, old pawn and contemporary jewelry, and Native American beadwork. Opening February 5, the gallery presents Masterpieces of the Loom: Navajo Blankets 1860-1900. This is the first retrospective by Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery of the Navajo blanket weaving period from Classic through Transitional. The show and sale will include examples of Chiefs blankets, Classic and Late Classic serapes, Germantown weavings, and Transitional weavings. Accompanying the exhibit and sale of 30 navajo blankets are a select group of ray Roberts` paintings emphasizing these unique textiles. The show runs through may 5, 2011.