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The Cleveland Museum of Art

Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection

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  • Special Exhibition
Sunday, March 7–Sunday, May 30, 2010
Location: The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall
Headdress Frontlet, about 1840–70. Coast? Tsimshian, north British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0177. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.

Headdress Frontlet, about 1840–70. Coast? Tsimshian, north British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0177. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.

  1. Headdress Frontlet, about 1840–70

    Headdress Frontlet, about 1840–70. Coast? Tsimshian, north British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0177. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Coast? Tsimshian, north British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0177. Photogrph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  2. Nepcetat (One That Sticks to the Face) Mask, about 1840–60

    Nepcetat (One That Sticks to the Face) Mask, about 1840–60. Central Yup’ik, probably lower Yukon River, Alaska. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0231. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Central Yup’ik, probably lower Yukon River, Alaska. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0231. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  3. Shield Cover and Shield, about 1860

    Shield Cover and Shield, about 1860. Apsáalooke (Crow), Montana. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0048. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Apsáalooke (Crow), Montana. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0048. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  4. Double-Sided Drum, about 1890

    Double-Sided Drum, about 1890. Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee), Oklahoma. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0086. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee), Oklahoma. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0086. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  5. Horse Mask, about 1875–1900

    Horse Mask, about 1875–1900. Nimi’ipuu (Nez Perce) or possibly Cayuse, Idaho, Oregon, or east Washington. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0097. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Nimi’ipuu (Nez Perce) or possibly Cayuse, Idaho, Oregon, or east Washington. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0097. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  6. Beacon Lights, 1904–5

    Beacon Lights, 1904–5. Louisa Keyser [Dat So La Lee] (about 1850–1925), Washoe, Carson City, Nevada. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0751. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Louisa Keyser [Dat So La Lee] (about 1850–1925), Washoe, Carson City, Nevada. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0751. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  7. Girl's Dress, about 1895

    Girl's Dress, about 1895. Teton Sioux (Lakota), North or South Dakota. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0069. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Teton Sioux (Lakota), North or South Dakota. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0069. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  8. Man’s War Record, about 1880

    Man’s War Record, about 1880, Lakota (Teton Sioux), North or South Dakota. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0049. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Lakota (Teton Sioux), North or South Dakota. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0049. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  9. Feast Bowl, about 1780

    Feast Bowl, about 1780. Northeastern Woodlands. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0824. Photograph by Richard Walker.
     Northeastern Woodlands. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0824. Photograph by Richard Walker. 

  10. Woman’s Dance Fans (Finger Masks), about 1870

    Woman’s Dance Fans (Finger Masks), about 1870. Central Yup’ik, Alaska. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0229a,b. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Central Yup’ik, Alaska. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0229a,b. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 

  11. Potlatch Figure Holding a Copper, about 1880–95

    Potlatch Figure Holding a Copper, about 1880–95. Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), northwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0162. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. about 1880–95. Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), northwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0162. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.
     Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), northwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0162. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. about 1880–95. Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), northwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0162. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor. 
View More CMA Objects in the Exhibition

About The Exhibition

In the Cleveland Museum of Art's first Native American exhibition since the 1970s, experience 135 works of art—each with a fascinating story—when the renowned Thaw Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York visits Cleveland in the Spring of 2010. The exhibition, which focuses on the 1800s, showcases the extraordinary variety of Native artistic production, moving from the ancient ivories and ingenious modern masks of the Arctic to the dramatic sculptural arts of the Pacific Northwest, the millennia-long tradition of abstract art in the Southwest, the refined basketry of California and the Great Basin, the famous beaded and painted works of the Plains, and the luminous styles of the Eastern Woodlands, including the Great Lakes. A few objects from CMA's own collection are included. Revelations abound. Admission is free.

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Headdress Frontlet, about 1840–70. Coast? Tsimshian, north British Columbia. Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., T0177. Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.

Sponsors

Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection is organized by the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY. This exhibition has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius. The Cleveland Museum of Art’s exhibition and education programs are made possible through the generous support of Dominion Foundation, Medical Mutual, and Giant Eagle. The Cleveland Museum of Art is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this exhibition with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

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