Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Spring 2003
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 23, No. 2, Spring 2003, pp. 135-36.
Abstract
Norman Feder (1930-1995), a pioneer in the field of Native American art history and material culture, began his career in a community of amateur collectors and "artifakers" (Feder's term for serious hobbyists who produced high-quality reproductions of Indian crafts). His periodical, American Indian Hobbyist (begun in 1954 and renamed American Indian Tradition in 1960), spawned many careers in anthropology and Native American history. Later, Feder's professional experience included positions at the Denver Art Museum, the Heye Foundation Museum of the American Indian, and major exhibitions and catalogs at the Brooklyn Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Feder served as an editorial consultant for American Indian Art Magazine from 1977 until his death. Without the benefit of formal academic training, Feder had an unfailing connoisseur's eye and, from his hobbyist background, a firsthand understanding of Native American techniques and styles. His research pioneered in the use of historical drawings, archival photographs, and collection records, and he was one of the first to bring the resources of European collections and museums to American audiences. Among his earliest work was a systematic examination of the Francis Crane Collection in the Denver Museum of Natural History, which identified a number of "artifakes" and misidentifications. Contributor Ruth Phillips cites Feder's careful work as "foundational" and identifies his "legacy of meticulous collections- based documentation and connoisseurship" as the bedrock "upon which all current analyses and interpretations rest."
Arthur Einhorn, Joyce Herold, Tilly Laskey, Roanne P. Goldfein, and Christian Feest offer insight into Feder's background and practice, but a more developed and critical overview of Feder's legacy is lacking. The volume also includes recent work in Feder's meticulous tradition and spirit, much of it relating to the Great Plains. Notable contributions include Colin F. Taylor's study of stylistic development in Crow ceremonial shirts, Bill Holm's study of Plains quill-wrapped horsehair techniques, Arni Brownstone's analysis of seven unidentified Plains hide-paintings, Imre Nagy's exploration of Cheyenne cosmological iconography, and William Sturtevant's documentation of the provenance of the German Speyer Collection.
Most interesting is the synthetic body of research that proceeds from the foundational work of Feder and his generation to weave complex, cross-cultural narratives. Notable contributions are Molly Lee's study of Alaskan Eskimo art and the turn-of-the-century Nome Gold Rush, Marvin Cohodas's study of non-Native influence on pictorial imagery in California basketry, and Phillips's multicultural history of Great Lakes quilled bark styles.
Comments
Copyright 2003 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln