Exhibitions

First American Art: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection

April 24, 2004 – May 29, 2006

National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center
One Bowling Green
New York, NY

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

See on Map Floor Plan

Some 200 items illustrate the similar aesthetic characteristics found in Native American objects from different North American cultures. Seven principles—idea, emotion, intimacy, movement, integrity, vocabulary, and composition—were used as a guide in selecting the objects on view. Highlights include a pair of Cheyenne baby moccasins, unusual because of their beaded soles, and an elaborately carved Haida raven rattle, brought out around once a year and seen from a distance. Other items on view include clothing and regalia decorated with dyed porcupine quills and glass trade beads from the cultures of the Great Plains and Eastern woodlands, baskets and pottery from the Southwest and California; and Plains ledger drawings.

Catalogue