This unique book provides a complete study of the exquisite Native American basketry from the San Francisco Bay Area and the Monterey Bay region north to Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino and eastward across the Sacramento Valley to the crest of the Sierras. Baskets of the Pomo, Ohlone (Costanoan), Coast Miwok, Esselen, Huchnom, Lake Miwok, Maidu, Wappo, and Yuki people are lavishly illustrated and knowledgably and sensitively described. Colour photographs and drawings illustrate the rare, fine California Indian baskets from museum and private collections in the United States and Europe. The vast majority of these baskets are illustrated for the first time.
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About the Author
Ralph Shanks is vice president of the Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin. Lisa Woo Shanks is editor of the Basketry of California and Oregon Series. They are the authors of The North American Indian Travel Guide.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Important Addition to the Field,
By
This review is from: Indian Baskets of Central California: Art, Culture, and History (Indian Baskets of California and Oregon Series, Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
Ralph Shanks has more than one passion that he writes about. He's known nationwide in Coast Guard history circles as one of the country's leading chroniclers of the history of the United States Life-Saving Service, a predecessor to the Coast Guard. But little do those folks know - except maybe those on the West Coast, of his level of scholarship as it pertains to a subject seemingly as far away from motor lifeboats as one can get: Native American basketry.
Indian Baskets of Central California is split geographically into three sections: San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay, the interior coast range mountains, and the Sierra Nevada and the Delta. Each section highlihghts the basketry of different tribes, both in text and imagery. The book, in fact, is heavily illustrated with photography of existing baskets from collections all over the west coast. The history of the development of each type of basket is told, as is the story behind its ultimate use. The details pertaining to each individual basket's story are as intricately woven into storylines as the baskets themselves were crafted. Ralph and his wife/editor Lisa Woo Shanks have collaborated on several projects, including the North American Indian Travel Guide. Independently, Lisa is the editor of the Basketry of California and Oregon Series. Their expertise for this very precise subject shines through in this important book, one that will help keep alive fading arts and cultures of the past.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a "Must Have" book.,
By
This review is from: Indian Baskets of Central California: Art, Culture, and History (Indian Baskets of California and Oregon Series, Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
I have a large shelf of books on indian basketry. This Shanks book will be put first in line. For the tribes included, the book covers historical, cultural, and ethnographic aspects in a very readable form. But its unrivaled aspect is in diagnostics and the technical details. Boring? Hardly! The authors show how the artisitic and aesthetic values derive from the weaving details. The authors trace the migration and fate of tribal peoples through analysis of their weaving. While the book is of "coffee table" quality, it not just a pretty once over dust catcher. I will certainly buy their next volume in the series.
To anyone interested in the artworks or culture of the American Indian, this is a must have treasure. In fact, it can well stand first in line among any indian textile, carving, pottery, or beadwork books that I have ever seen.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book,
By Mark Allen (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Indian Baskets of Central California: Art, Culture, and History (Indian Baskets of California and Oregon Series, Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
More than exceptionally good regional art, California Indian baskets are amongst the most beautiful and finest baskets in the world. No other book covers basketry with the detail, care and insight of this volume. Approximately 200 baskets are shown in full color along with an enjoyable text that makes reading a pleasure. Basketry studies, anthropology, history, art, archeology and linguistics are all brought together in this unprecedented book. "Indian Baskets of Central California" is full of fascinating information. There are vibrant baskets covered with hundreds of tiny feathers, miniature baskets so small they literally can sit on the head of a pin, feast baskets so large it took several men to lift one when full, and culinary baskets as beautiful as a great painting. You will be proud to own this fine book.
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