COLORFUL & COMPLEX
Show to highlight rare Germantown weavings
With their vivid color palette and explosive designs, Germantown weavings mark the beginning of modern art.
Santa Fe’s Antique American Indian Art Show will showcase about 30 of the textiles when it opens Tuesday, Aug. 14, at El Museo de Cultural de Santa Fe in the city’s Railyard district. The show continues through Friday, Aug. 17, with about 70 exhibitors selling a range of baskets, jewelry, beadwork, ledger drawings, moccasins, textiles and Northwest Coast and Eastern Woodland pieces.
Dating from 1870 to 1900, these brilliantly colored Germantown weavings marked the first time yarns were imported into Navajo country after their release from the Bosque Redondo when the U.S. government imprisoned 9,500 Navajos and 500 Mescalero Apaches at Fort Sumner from 1863to 1868.
When the weavers returned to their homeland, their sheep had been decimated. Trading posts sprouted with wool imported from the East Coast, most specifically from Germantown, Pa.
“For the first time, they have access to purples and bright yellows and bright greens,” exhibition owner/partner Kim Martindale said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
Before this time — known as the “transitional” period — they wove primarily in natural browns, blacks and whites, Martindale said.
These were four-ply yarns commercially spun and dyed, which were shipped to the West via the newly-built railroads. They incorporated ancient geometric designs, patterns and embellishments. Commercial aniline dyes eliminated the laborintensive process of shearing sheep, spinning thread and gathering natural pigments. The native weavers embraced the bold colors.
“At that point, it’s really valuable yarn because of the shipping costs,” Martindale said. “It’s given to the best weavers in Navajo country because it’s such a valued yarn.”
The weavers started experimenting, turning out “eye-dazzlers” renowned for their complex graphics and complementary color combinations. They often wove these in a serrated, sawtooth pattern.
“No one was doing these bold geometric patterns.”
They also lifted the serrated diamond patterns found in Spanish colonial rugs.
These rugs were more abstracted, a feat earning them categorization as the WHAT: Antique American Indian Art Show Santa Fe
WHEN: Opening night party 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 15-17
WHERE: El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, 555 Camino de la Familia, Santa Fe
HOW MUCH: $50 Aug. 14 opening night benefits KNME New Mexico PBS; $15 Aug. 15-17. Information at antiqueindianartsshow.com.
first examples of modern art, Martindale said.
By the end of this period, the weavings disappeared.
“The Germantown yarn stopped being imported,” Martindale said, “and it changed into three-ply yarn. The wool was not as finely woven and finely spun.”
After 1900, most weavers returned to weaving with their own yarn.
“For some reason Germantown yarn just stopped being imported,” Martindale said.