A Study Guide for
Native North American Indian Art
by
Janet C. Berlow and Ruth B. Phillips
Oxford History of Art
Chapter 1 - Introduction
An Introduction to the Indigenous Arts of North America
1. Do the authors consider the term “prehistoric” misleading? Why?
2. What are the specific issues the authors address in contemporary art history?
3. Why might these issues be more important than the visual elements?
4. Which major ethical issues arise in relation to ownership and display of Indian objects?
5. What is “an object of cultural patrimony?”
6. What are the characteristics of a “curiosity?”
7. Was the ethnological collecting of objects at the turn of the century damaging to Native cultures? Why?
8. How much "basis in fact" do the authors think stereotypes are based upon?
9. What is a shaman?
10. Name a distinctive cosmological formulation traceable to an origin in central Asia?
11. Whose is the most lavish example of feasting and gift giving in Indian North America?
12. Name five things personal adornment can be used to indicate about a person?
13. Who is a Choctaw man who excels in the art of realistic beaded pictures?
14. What standards are used to determine if an object is authentically “Indian?”
15. How did early historians of Native American material culture distinguish between fine art and craft?
16. When did strict gender roles relax in the American Indian art-making community?
17. When is a sand painting made for healing purposes destroyed. Why?
18. Name three special things about Hosteen Klah?
19. What was Hosteen Klah’s mother famous for?
Chapter 2
The Southwest
1. What are the principal ancient cultures of the Southwest?
2. What is meant by the term "emergence?"
3. Describe the extent of the trade system used by the Southwesterners.
4. Why are some Southwesterners called "Pueblo" peoples?
5. Name the modern Indian peoples of the Southwest and their ancestors.
6. What are the key features of a "pit house?"
7. What is a "kiva?" What is a "sipapu." How are they related?
8. What are the four standard elements in a kiva?
9. Where is the largest building of Anasazi manufacture?
10. How long has weaving been practiced in the Southwest?
11. Name two pre-Columbian cultures famous for their black and white ceramics.
12. What is meant by "ethnographic analogy?"
13. What, in the opinion of the authors, are the causes of culture change?
14. What reduced the population of the Southwest; how much was it reduced?
15. What is a Kachina? Why are few people allowed to take their pictures?
16. What is the relationship between Zuni ceremony and architecture?
17. How is spiritual force transformed into a form humans can recognize?
18. How is the Hopi ceremonial season divided?
19. Who was Maria Martinez and how did she divide work with her husband?
20. Explain the relationship between the Navajo and the Apache.
21. What arts did the Athabaskan peoples learn from the Puebloans?
22. How can hozho be returned to a sick Navajo individual? What is hozho?
23. Which social custom led to the perpetuation of weaving among the Navajo?
24. What is credited with the changes of style in Navajo tapestry weaving?
25. Describe the gift of Changing Woman. Why was it important?
26. How did jewelry making become an economic mainstay in the Southwest?
Chapter 3
The East
1. Identify the unifying factors which characterize the Woodlands.
2. What are "sumptuary implements" and what is their value?
3. Detail an architectural trend epitomized by Poverty Point, LA.
4. Explain the possible theories for the creation of Serpent Mound, OH.
5. What allowed the expansion of the Woodlands population to new levels?
6. Compare and contrast the Hopewell culture with that of their successors.
7. Name the four most important Mississippian culture centers.
8. Describe the Green Corn Ceremony and its social significance.
9. What is exceptional about Monk's Mound? Where is it?
10. Which characteristics of religious and social organization did the Mississippian and Mexican Indian Peoples share?
11. What was the most common pattern used in Mississippian art?
12. How did Mississippians express their animistic tendencies?
13. What was the effect of contact with outsiders for the Mississippian Peoples?
14. Explain the relationship between African slaves and the tribes of the Southeast.
15. What is a chickee and how does it relate to tourism in the Southeast during WWI?
16. What were the contents of the postcontact grave found at Grigsby, Ontario? What did they indicate about the people of that time and place?
17. Why are glass beads a predominant artist's material in the Eastern US today?
18. What was the effect of contact with Europeans on the artistic traditions of the Woodlands people?
19. Who are the Anishnabe? Where did they originate?
20. What is the Midewiwin? When did it originate?
21. How was wampum made and used?
22. How are mordants related to porcupine quills?
23. Which countries attempted to establish permanent colonies in the Woodlands?
24. Name the "Five Civilized Tribes."
25. Which US policy opened Woodlands Indian land to White settlement?
26. How and why are manitos related to tote bags in the Woodlands?
27. How were the earliest known Woodlands bags constructed?
28. Why did Woodlands artists adopt styles attractive to Europeans?
Chapter 4
The West
1. What might be the most common Indian stereotype according to the authors? Why does this stereotype present a false image?
2. What allowed the Indian people to move out onto the Plains? When?
3. How do the authors divide the Peoples of the West? Name the groups.
4. Name the tribes of the Plains and their origins. Detail the boundaries.
5. Where did goods imported onto the Plains originate? What were these goods?
6. Name the Intermontaine tribes, define their geographic boundaries.
7. Name the Great Basin tribes, define their geographic boundaries.
8. Name the California tribes, define their geographic boundaries.
9. What was the preeminent material culture form in the West, outside of the Plains?
10. Name the most common form for artistic expression on the Plains and list the uses.
11. What can adornment express about ourselves to others?
12. Name two pigments and binders used in Plains hide paintings?
13. Detail the relationship between a woman's social status and her tipi making?
14. Describe the normal social process of tipi making.
15. Other than painting which forms of artistry were used for embellishment?
16. What do moccasins with beaded soles imply?
17. What modern equipment was needed to replace the baby carrier?
18. What is a winter count? Why were they made? How were they recorded?
19. What new materials did Plains people adapt?
20. What do the Medicine Wheel and the Sun Lodge have in common?
21. What typified men's art during the 20th century?
22. What typified women's art during the 20th century?
23. How was traditional dress altered in the 20th century?
24. What was the Ghost Dance? Why did it stop?
25. What regions influence the arts of the Intermontaine Peoples?
26. Name the three most common forms of Intermontaine expression.
27. What fiber art predominated in the Great Basin and California?
28. When was a Pomo girl presented with baskets?
29. Who was Louisa Keyser and why was her work important?
Chapter 5
The North
1. Why have Humans worn tiny effigies of animals on their clothing?
2. Which materials have been used to make art in the Arctic?
3. Who is Sedna? What does she control?
4. Describe the Sub-Arctic environment. What resources is it rich in? Poor?
5. Make a timeline of People arriving in the Arctic?
6. Name the Peoples and their languages of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic.
7. When were these Peoples contacted by outsiders and by whom?
8. What dynamistic characteristics are apparent in Sub-Arctic clothing?
9. What is the favored hide in the Sub-Arctic?
10. Who did Sub-Arctic animals prefer to be killed by?
11. When were floral designs added to the wealth of patterns of ornament? Where did they come from?
12. What is menstrual seclusion? What benefits accrue to secluded women?
13. Why did the missionaries discourage body decoration. Were they successful?
14. Who were the first Métis? Why were they important as innovators?
15. What scale of work was most valued in the Arctic? Why?
16. What is meant by the term "polyiconic nature?"
17. Compare and contrast the art produced in the Western and Eastern Arctic.
18. Which Arctic social position is associated with the loon. Why?
19. What is a parka? How is it used? Why is it important?
20. What new materials were adopted by Inuit women for clothing use?
21. What is "gutskin?" Why is it a superior material? What was it used for?
22. What do the Yup'ik do with seal bladders? Why?
23. Compare and contrast the use of masks among Yup'ik men and women.
24. What is baleen? What was it used for? Who used it?
25. What economic structure is used to market Inuit art?
26. Why were Inuit women able to adopt graphic arts processes rapidly?
27. How do drawings and prints in the Arctic serve both the Inuit and outsiders?
28. Why do modern Alaskan artists have an advantage over Canadian artists?
Chapter 6
The Northwest Coast
1. What are two key aspects of Northwest Coast world view?
2. What are the geographic limits of the Northwest Coast culture area?
3. Who are the Peoples of the Northwest Coast? How long have they lived there?
4. What is the main source of food for the Peoples?
5. What characterizes the clothing differences of the southernmost folks?
6. Who were the first non-Native collectors of the art here? Why? When?
7. What was the effect of disease on the art of the Northwest Coast?
8. How is the "formline" created? What is a template and how is it used.
9. Why is the study of individual artists' styles difficult along this Coast?
10. Why did the northern style spread southward at the end of the 19th century?
11. Describe the typical decoration of shamans' rattles around the world.
12. What causes illness in the Northwest Coast area? How is a cure achieved?
13. What are yek and which are important?
14. How have most Tlingit shamans' rattles entered museum collections?
15. What is the dominant image at rock art sites in the Northwest Coast area?
16. What is a "crest?" Why are no two families' crests identical?
17. Where are crests applied?
18. Describe the architectural influences apparent in Chief Clellamin's house.
19. What is the point of the Hamatsa initiation ceremony? Who participates?
20. Who is dzonoqua; how does she appear? What does she control?
21. Who outlawed the potlach; when and why was it banned? How is it now?
22. When, why, and among which groups did argillite working begin?
23. How did ceremonial carving and souvenir carving both contribute to the preservation of Northwest Coast arts?
24. Who is Mungo Martin? What did he do and why was it important?
25. How has distribution of labor between men and women changed in art manufacture since archaic times?
26. What was Ksan and how did it affect art production? During which years was it most effective?
27. Name as many modern Northwest Coast artists and their media as possible.
Chapter 7
The Twentieth Century: Trends in Modern Native American Art
1. What are the main issues defining the label of "Native American Art?"
2. What is meant by the expression "decolonize" art history?
3. Why has non-Native arts patronage been a double-edged sword?
4. How did imprisoned warriors use art to change the opinion of the White world?
5. Who were the Kiowa Five? Why is their work important?
6. Where do the authors say Native American "traditional style" painting began?
7. Was the Studio School experiment successful? Why or why not?
8. How have institutions and government supported Native artists?
9. What influence do patrons have on developing art trends?
10. Why was Oscar Howe labeled a cubist? Was this right or wrong?
11. Which Indian artist is responsible for positioning Native American art directly in the mainstream of American art? How was this done?
12. Name the "schools" of modernist American Indian art and the major artists.
13. Why do the authors see modern Native American art as a continuation of traditional culture?
14. How did the ethnocentric view of museums hamper the careers of Native Canadian Indian artists? How was this resolved, at least in part?
15. Why do the authors list so many Indians by name in this chapter when compared to the rest of the book?
16. What was the significance of the Submoluc Show?
17. What does Deborah Doxtator believe about tradition and art?
Return to Required Readings for AIS 105