Preparing Yarn for Weaving Mural, Department of Interior
8/1941
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Beginning in the 1930s, modern Native Americans gained substantial art-world attention and commercial success through a series of important exhibitions and public art commissions.
A painting program called the Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School launched the careers of several prominent Native artists. Emphasizing a multicultural education drawn from the rich ethnic and artistic heritage of its diverse student population, the Studio encouraged a style of Native American painting characterized by its flat appearance, subdued earth tones, and traditional scenes of Native American life and culture.
A series of Native murals in the Studio Style were commissioned for the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Navajo artist Gerald Nailor (Toh-Yah), Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser (Ha-oz-ous), and Zia Pueblo artist Velino Herrera (Ma Pe Wi) painted scenes of buffalo and deer hunting, pottery making, and ceremonial dance.
Nailor’s Preparing Yarn for Weaving, for example, depicts Native women wearing silver and turquoise jewelry, velvet blouses, plaited skirts, and deerskin shoes. They demonstrate traditional methods of carding, spinning, and winding wool next to a loom frame fashioned from tree trunks, upon which hangs a partially woven blanket with a geometric design.
A painting program called the Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School launched the careers of several prominent Native artists. Emphasizing a multicultural education drawn from the rich ethnic and artistic heritage of its diverse student population, the Studio encouraged a style of Native American painting characterized by its flat appearance, subdued earth tones, and traditional scenes of Native American life and culture.
A series of Native murals in the Studio Style were commissioned for the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Navajo artist Gerald Nailor (Toh-Yah), Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser (Ha-oz-ous), and Zia Pueblo artist Velino Herrera (Ma Pe Wi) painted scenes of buffalo and deer hunting, pottery making, and ceremonial dance.
Nailor’s Preparing Yarn for Weaving, for example, depicts Native women wearing silver and turquoise jewelry, velvet blouses, plaited skirts, and deerskin shoes. They demonstrate traditional methods of carding, spinning, and winding wool next to a loom frame fashioned from tree trunks, upon which hangs a partially woven blanket with a geometric design.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Public Buildings Service.
National Archives Identifier: 70169159
Full Citation: 121-CMS-1E; Preparing Yarn for Weaving Mural, Department of Interior; 8/1941; Completed Murals and Sculptures in United States Post Offices and other Federal Buildings, 1935–1943; Records of the Public Buildings Service, Record Group 121; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/preparing-yarn-for-weaving-mural, October 3, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
