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Lines on the Horizon

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Midsummer Night

Midsummer Night

A sneak peek at the new de Young exhibit, donated by the Weisel family of Marin.

BY MIMI TOWLE

ÜBER-SUCCESSFUL FINANCIER THOM Weisel is no stranger to headlines, and these days the topic is his generous donation to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Although the longtime Marin resident has been collecting Native American art for quite some time, that category is not what initially drew his attention. He started out collecting contemporary art, but began to see the same qualities he admired in artists such as Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the powerful geometric canvases of Navajo blankets, in the brilliant and free visual experimentation in pre-contact

Southwestern Native American ceramics and in the elegant classicism of great Northwest coast art. “I first became inspired by Native American art after spending so much time in Sun Valley and the first piece I purchased was a third-phase chief blanket, which I bought from artist Tony

Berlant in 1973,” recalls Weisel. Since then he has amassed an impressive collection. In all, the

Weisel family has gifted about 200 objects that, in museum director Colin B. Bailey’s words, “will reshape the Native American art collection at the de Young.”

This month marks Bailey’s first anniversary at the museum, and he says meeting Thom Weisel was one of the top priorities when he came on board. “It was the first time I had crossed the Golden

Gate Bridge,” he recalls of the occasion, “and once I got to the Weisels’ beautiful home in Ross, I was impressed by the array of pottery and unique weavings. While this genre was new to me, his passion was contagious. It was very exciting and intense — quite a heady experience.”

The exhibition spans nearly 1,000 years, from 11th-century Mimbres ceramics to 19thcentury works by recognized artists such as the Hopi-Tewa potter Nampeyo. According to Fine

Arts Museums curator Matthew Robb, who specializes in the Arts of the Americas, these pieces not only represent the best of their types, but are also a great example of changing regional styles throughout the centuries.

Absorbing such a collection has been tasked to Robb, who is displaying 70 of the 200 pieces in the exhibit Lines on the Horizon, which opened last month. “It is always a pleasure to look at art with someone who has an intuitive grasp of aesthetic merit,” says Robb. “Over the last couple of decades, Thom has formed a premier collection of Native American art. One of my favorites is the powerful bear (pictured) from the Haida people of America’s northwest coast. Formerly in Andy

Warhol’s collection, it is a ruggedly carved and modeled figure meant for the interior or exterior of a clan house to signal lineage and power.” These works, he says, are suitable companions to the de Young’s holdings in other areas of world art.

Weisel is also providing an endowment that will give researchers and curators at the museum an opportunity to learn more about the people and cultures behind the art and to develop educational programs related to the collection. We asked Robb to highlight a few significant pieces. m

Poncho Serape, 1830, Navajo, Southwest

This is an extremely rare piece. There are only 29 known surviving poncho serapes of this type known to collectors. Woven in a vertical direc-

tion, the textile reflects the meshing of four distinct cultures: Spanish, Mexican, indigenous Aztecs and Native American. It is a wonderful

example of a piece of art that would only occur at this specific time and place. Though cotton had been used for centuries in ancient Mexico

and the Southwest, the introduction of wool had a big impact — since it was heavier and warmer, it was very desirable.

Ceramic Vessel, 1890–1910, by Nampeyo, Hopi-Tewa, Arizona

This is a classic example of famed artist “Iris” Nampeyo, who was born in 1860 and lived until 1942 in Hano Pueblo in Arizona.

Her mother was Hopi and her father was Tewa; she learned her pottery skills from her paternal grandmother. Nampeyo’s art bridges the gap between ancient (1500s) iconography and methods and modern-day. Because of her popularity at the time, she was also one of the most photographed potters in the Southwest. She used local clays fired to around 1,000 degrees Celsius, what we call “earthenware” temperature, and the motif is of a tail of an eagle, with talons.

Ute-style Wearing Blanket, 1840, Navajo, Southwest

This prized Navajo weaving was collected by George Horace Lorimer, who lived from 1867 to1937 and was editor-in-chief of the Saturday Evening Post. Lorimer was also an advocate for the rights of Native Americans. This blanket was given to him during one of his frequent visits to the Navajo reservation in the early 20th century. The white and the brown colors were not dyed; they were natural colors from sheep, which were introduced by the Spanish in the last years of the 16th century. The blue is from indigo, a trade item weavers were getting from the Spanish.

Water Jar, 1880–1900, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

The black-and-white line work on this 19th-century vessel evokes designs seen on vessels from a thousand years before, suggesting that artists in the late 19th century had access to ancient objects. While the artist is unknown, this is a great example of what we will be researching in the future. Do the motifs mean the same thing in different time periods? It was probably used as a water jar, and it was made of earthenware.

Serape, 1850, Navajo, Southwest

This item was collected by Lieutenant Colonel James Cooper McKee (1830–1897), one of the signers of the 1868 U.S. treaty with the Navajo. The blanket has a distinct network pattern that’s the mark of one of the master weavers from the classic period. This piece is exciting because it underscores the research potential of this entire collection. It’s artistic detective work — we

are looking for who originally owned it and how it was made. The more we learn about the weaver (or weavers) and then compare this to the technical aspects of other, similar objects — how tightly is it woven, what kinds of dyes and threads are being used — the more we will understand the true history embedded in these objects.

“In all, the Weisel family has gifted about 200 objects that will reshape the Native American art collection at the de Young.”

Museum director Colin Bailey (left) and Thom Weisel at the new Lines on the Horizon exhibit at the de Young. Behind them is a carved bear figure made by the Haida people.

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