Blanket or Rug
Navajo (Diné) (Ganado area, Arizona, United States)
c. 1900
- Medium
- Wool, dovetailed tapestry weave; twined edges and ends
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 308 × 157.5 cm (121 1/4 × 62 in.); Warp repeat: H.: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Arizona
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Gift of Joseph W. Fell
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This blanket or rug displays many of the characteristics of Navajo weaving made at the turn of the previous century. During this period, Navajo artists were working in an increasingly commercial environment, with many of their weavings destined for non-Indian buyers. Weavers also could sell their work through traders who would make suggestions on colors and designs in response to market trends. The bold rows of linked crosses are formed using only two colors against a variegated gray background—a limited palete that is a striking departure from the Navajo weavers' earlier vibrant "Eye Dazzler" blankets. The unusually large size of this textile suggests that it was woven for a specific purpose or location.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
