|
|
 |
 |
Wedge-weave blanket (detail)
American Southwest, Navajo; ca. 1890
Collected by Phoebe A. Hearst; donated by her estate, 1920.
2-10747
Coming from the region of Native America that most appealed to Phoebe Hearst, all the Southwestern objects displayed here are from her personal collection. She obtained all of them from the Fred Harvey Company, a hotel and restaurant chain along the railroads, which opened a department to sell Indian artifacts in 1902 in Albuquerque, N.M. Navajo blankets were just one of the many forms that the company commercialized. In wedge-weaving, weft threads are woven diagonally, resulting in scalloped edges and patterns of chevrons and zigzags. Flourishing only between 1875 and 1890, wedge-weaving is a comparatively rare form of Navajo textile, and only several hundred ever seem to have been made.
|
|
