Skip to main content
Collections Menu

Blanket

Datec. 1890
DimensionsOverall: 43 3/4 × 65 3/4 in. (111.1 × 167 cm)
Object numberT0809
Credit LineGift of Eugene Victor Thaw Art Foundation
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextIn the early 1800s Wah-zah-zhe women began to sew mosaic ribbonwork patterns around the borders of wool blankets, transforming them into extraordinary robes. Women and girls wear these important garments at special occasions as emblems of their Wah-zah-zhe identity. The ribbonwork ranges from relatively simple bands of richly patterned reverse appliqué (a technique of sewing a cut-out ribbon pattern onto a differently colored ribbon background) to figurative designs, such as seen here. This type of blanket was worn around a woman’s shoulders and over her forearms so the ribbon-work formed a cascade of color in front of her. The six black-hand motifs against a scarlet background in this blanket form a striking contrast to the stylized geometric ribbon-work patterns.

Exhibition History"American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum," Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20, 2004 - April 11, 2004.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.

"As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now", Springfield Museums, Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, October 14, 2023 - January 14, 2024.
ProvenanceTony Herbst, Galisteo, New Mexico
BibliographyHerbst, Toby. Toby Herbst, Little Rock, Arkansas: Morton & Morton Printing, 2003, cover and fig 14.

"Tenth Anniversary of the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 1995-2005" in Heritage magazine, 2005, vol 20. pg. 20-21.

Fognell, Eva, ed. "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection." Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 69.

Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 17.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 135.
On View
Not on view
Sash
Wah-zah-zhe (Osage)
c. 1880
Manta
Acoma
1850-1875
Dog blankets
ca. 1890
Dog blankets
ca. 1890
Scissors case
Martha Frost Benjamin
1982
St. George
Vincenzo Ancona
1950-2000
Manta
Zuni or Acoma
1860-1880
Native American Basket Seller
Cornelius David Krieghoff
1815-1872
Bag
Anishinaabe (Red River Ojibwa)
c. 1790
Pipe
Seneca (Haudenosaunee)
1670-1687
Bag
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)
c. 1880-1890

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

close

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required