Unknown Maker, Diné (Navajo)

Note how the nine-spot pattern—a diamond in the center, quarter-diamonds in each corner, and half-diamonds in the center of each side—envelops the wearer in perfect symmetry. This pattern emerged in the 1860s, a tumultuous period for Diné.

In 1864, after burning homes and crops and killing livestock, the US government forced 8,000 Diné on the Long Walk to eastern New Mexico. During their imprisonment there, Diné women continued to weave, despite the scarcity of resources. In signing the Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 1868, Diné agreed to cease war against the US, allow government officials to live within their lands, and permit the construction of railroads through their territory—changes that soon allowed capitalism, Christianity, and the English language to influence Diné life.

This style of Navajo blanket is referred to as “third phase” because of its pattern of stripes embellished with diamond-shaped lozenges and its date, somewhat later than the blanket to the left but still within the Bosque Redondo period (1864-68). The donor’s husband, John Sloan (1871-1951), was one among many American artists, such as Robert Henri and George Bellows, who frequented the artist’s colony at Santa Fe in the 1920s and 30s, painted the New Mexican landscape, and became interested in Indian artifacts. The donor, Mrs. Sloan, owned a shop in New York that sold American Indian objects during the 1920s. In 1931, John Sloan collaborated with Rhode-Island-born writer Oliver LaFarge (1901-63) on the traveling exhibition An Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts (1931-33). Mrs. Sloan gave their collection of Navajo blankets to the Museum in 1942.

Gift of Mrs. John Sloan 42.088

The style of Navajo blanket known as the "chief's" blanket went through three distinct phases of design. The first phase blankets are made with contrasting stripes of white and brown/black, with blue and/or red stripes. This design is similar to the Pueblo-style manta which influenced the early Navajo weavers. As the Navajo became more adept weavers they began to incorporate their own patterns based on basketry designs. First blocks of color were introduced into the ends and centers of the stripes. As the second phase style developed the blocks got larger and eventually were replaced by stepped triangles, characteristic of the third phase chief blanket.

The first textiles woven by the Navajo were used primarily as wearing, sleeping or saddle blankets. The "Chief's" blanket was worn over the shoulders, with the two ends meeting at the front. The characteristic half triangles at each end to the blanket would then meet at the center front, envelopping the wearing in a symmetrical pattern both front and back.