Robes of Splendor -Op/106

George P Horse Capture,

ISBN 10: 1565841166 / ISBN 13: 9781565841161

Published by New Press August 1994, 1994

About this Item

This is the first U.S. publication of an extraordinary collection of native American art, unknown to contemporary American audiences. For centuries, ornamental robes made of buffalo hide were painted by artists of the various Indian nations. Brought back to the French kings in the eighteenth century, the robes represented here are now housed in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, and together they make a stunning tribute to a bygone art form. These robes, spectacularly executed and perfectly conserved, offer an incomparable pictographic representation of early native American life. As George P. Horse Capture observes in his essay on the craft and history of buffalo hide painting, we see the largely symbolic, complex geometric patterns painted by women contrasted with the more realistic, narrative scenes painted by men, depicting battles and dances. Both kinds of design played an important role in native American society as messages for tribe members, as well as for their visitors, and both share a powerful visual appeal. With introductory and historical essays by three leading experts on native American art, a preface by W. Richard West, Jr., the director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and over a hundred photographs of the hides, this splendid volume is sure to be a treasure in any collection. Book is slightly bowed. Binding is tight no interior marks.

Seller Inventory # 244026

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Robes of Splendor -Op/106
• Publisher: New Press August 1994
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1565841166
• ISBN 13: 9781565841161
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Used - Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art - American - Native-American

About this title

Synopsis

In the late eighteenth century, French explorers returned to their homeland with beautiful works of Native American art. Considered exotic, the painted buffalo hides of the plains tribes were highly valued by the French King Louis XVI and his cabinet and were included in their collections. Now, two centuries later, these Native American masterpieces have been unearthed from the archives of the Muse de l'Homme in Paris and published for the first time in the U.S. Robes of Splendor brings together essays from four leading experts in the field of Native American art and over one hundred photographs from the American Indian collection of the Muse de l'Homme in a comprehensive overview of this American treasure.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French