Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art from the Peabody Essex Museum [Paperback]

John R. Grimes (Author), Christian F. Feest (Author), Mary Lou Curran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

"Uncommon Legacies" celebrates the power, significance, and exceptional artistic quality of one of the most important collections of early Native American art. Assembled in the course of trade and missionary activities beginning in the late eighteenth century, the spectacular examples illustrated provide a rare opportunity to observe the creativity of Native artists in response to their interactions with non-Natives.Included here are magnificently illustrated chapters on the art of the American Southeast, the Northwest Coast, the Northeast Woodlands and Great Lakes, the Plains, and South America. Since the 1860s, the Peabody Essex Museum has displayed its Native American collections at various times as historical, archaeological, ethnological, and, most recently, as art objects. Recognition of Native American art as "art" did not occur until the mid-1930s. Prior to that time, it was considered artefact or craft, "curiosity" or "primitive art." There are more than 400 Native American cultures, each with its own distinct artistic tradition yet always open to the adoption of new forms of expression and materials in response to ever-changing conditions.Since art is created within the context of a given culture at a given time, a more complete understanding of specific objects requires an understanding of the culture in which they were created. The works presented here are expressive of worldviews, beliefs, and ways of being within each Native American community. While every group has its own approach to the creative process, each generation has to determine what values to express through the arts and how best to express those values. John R. Grimes is curator of Native American art and culture at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Christian F. Feest is professor of anthropology at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Mary Lou Curran is an associate curator at the Peabody Essex Museum. Other contributors include Thomas "Red Owl" Haukaas, Richard W. Hill Sr., Doreen Jensen, Duane H. King, Karen Kramer, Gerald McMaster, Peter L. Macnair, Ramiro Matos, and Jay Stewart.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In the glorious period of great sailing ships, New England mariners brought back treasures from far lands. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, grew out of the East India Marine Society's desire, in 1799, to protect such "curiosities" in a museum. Later additions, including modern Native American works, have since filled out the collection. This book commemorates the opening of a new permanent gallery for Native American art. Three excellent essays introduce the history of collecting in general, the growth of collections of Native Americana, and the evolution of the Peabody Essex. Another essay on modern Native American art points the way to the future. Following are 119 glowing plates of the individual objects, with extensive notes on each. Each geographic area represented is defined with a short essay. Though limited to one collection with some thin spots (e.g., there's little pottery or Southwest work, and not much from the Northeast tribes, who evidently seemed too commonplace to 18th- and 19th-century New Englanders), this is a good overview of Native American art. For larger public school libraries and art collections. Gay Neale, formerly with Southside Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Alta.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John R. Grimes is curator of Native American art and culture at the Peabody Essex Musem, Salem, Massachusetts. Christian F. Feest is professor of anthropology at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Mary Lou Curran is an associate curator at the Peabody Essex Museum. Other contributors include Thomas "Red Owl" Haukaas, Richard W. Hill Sr., Doreen Jensen, Duane H. King, Karen Kramer, Gerald McMaster, Peter L. Macnair, Ramiro Matos, and Jay Stewart. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885444230
• ISBN-13: 978-1885444233
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,058,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)