Wearing Blanket
Navajo (Diné) (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, United States)
1860-90
- Medium
- Wool, plain weave with "lazy lines" and dovetail tapestry weave; twined warp ends and selvages; knotted corner tassels
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 177.8 × 125.4 cm (70 × 49 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Bequest of Alan R. Brodie
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The Diné trace their knowledge of weaving and design to two holy people: Spider Man, who created the vertical loom, and Spider Woman, who taught them how to weave. These blankets typically were worn around both shoulders or wrapped around the torso with one end draped over one shoulder. Designs started with simple banded horizontal stripes and became increasingly complex over time. The predominantly geometric patterns of wearing blankets manifest the essential Diné concept of hózhó: the harmony and order that come through a balance of apparent opposites, such as day and night, which permeates the world.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
