Native American Art

The collection of Native American artworks is one of the hidden treasures of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with some of its finest objects seldom displayed to ensure their preservation. This volume presents 100 of these little-known works, many reproduced for the first time. Although some objects were made for Native use, many reflect the interaction of Native Americans with other cultures, and demonstrate a mastery of new materials and techniques in weaving, silversmithing, beadwork and other crafts.

An introductory essay traces the history of Native American art at the MFA since the late nineteenth century, which mirrors cultural shifts in attitude toward these objects in the United States as a whole. Covering a diversity of objects from across the North American continent—from the eastern and southern Woodlands to the Northwest Pacific Coast, with a particular emphasis on the Southwest—this latest volume in the MFA Highlights series demonstrates the vast richness of American Indian art.