The Surrounder

Wah-ro-nee-sah

The Surrounder

An Ottoe Chief

Hand-colored aquatint after a painting by George Catlin

c. 1842

Chitimacha Baskets

Down in the bayous of Louisiana, near Charenton, is the reservation belonging to an ancient tribe of Indians known as the Chitimacha. Contact with Europeans and their diseases had the usual tragic impact on their numbers and culture. But cultures are often remembered by their surviving artistic achievements, and the Chitimacha tradition of woven basketry is splendid. Because making these baskets is so labor-intensive, only a few still practice it.

The baskets are made of a local bamboo-like cane that is split with the teeth into fine strips. These are dyed black, red and yellow with other locally available bark and roots, and woven into complex, traditional patterns. Some are double-weave, and have an inner and outer pattern layer. The baskets are incredibly strong.

I almost never see them anymore, except in auction catalogs. Most of the photos here were lifted from old listings of the Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans.

I do love them.

A Feather in Your Cap, A Feather in Your Nest

The impulse to collect things is one of the most agreeable things about people. Of course, I would say that, since I make my living providing them with the objects of their desire. The reasons they accumulate what they do, and the strategies they use, and how they define what they're after is always interesting to me. And the variety is pretty much endless. It occurs to me now that most of the blogs I enjoy are maintained by collectors, or artists, or both.

One of the smartest people I know, in the long course of writing a dissertation about Native American imagery in the modern art of Germany, found some relief in collecting images that were sort of tangentially related to her topic. She started acquiring pictures of non-native Americans dressing themselves in costume, and eventually assembled a neat little collection. She graciously agreed to let me share a few of her prizes here.

The picture below is the scholar/collector herself. And below that, your correspondent, striking his usual contrarian pose.