The Responsive Eye: Ralph T. Coe and the Collecting of American Indian Art

Coe, Ralph T., with Eugene Victor Thaw, J. C. H. King, and Judith Ostrowitz (2003)

This title is out of print.

Publication Details

Description

Over the past three decades, Ralph T. Coe has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada to assemble this collection of Native American art, one of the finest in private hands today. Immersed in the cultures of Native America, he has come to know artists and artisans, traders, dealers, and shop proprietors, selecting the very best they have to offer. This catalogue tells the stories of nearly two hundred of these objects, combining art history with personal reminiscence.

As director of the Nelson Gallery of Art (now the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), Kansas City, and as curator of two landmark exhibitions, "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art," in 1976, and "Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art 1965–1985," in 1986, Coe helped to create in the art-museum world a climate conducive to exhibitions of Native American art in which work was recognized and presented as art rather than as ethnology or anthropology, as it generally has been in the past.

The Ralph T. Coe Collection includes representative pieces from most Native American geographic regions and historical periods, beginning with objects dating back to the fourth millennium B.C. Many examples—men's shirts with ermine fringe, weapons, and button blankets—evoke the heroic lifestyle of the past, while small objects, such as tipi and kayak models, dolls, and tiny moccasins, speak to a more intimate significance. Ritual objects imbued with spiritual meaning—masks and katsinas, tablitas and medicine bundles—as well as utilitarian objects, such as pottery and baskets, also have a strong presence. Notably, several works by living artists are represented, the most recent made in 2001. An area that has often been ignored in private collecting is what Coe has termed Indian fancies, cross-cultural objects that illustrate the influence, beginning in the eighteenth century, of European taste on Native American art. Cumulatively, the collection provides and overview of the cultures of the American Indian.

The catalogue begins with an absorbing autobiographical essay by the collector that recounts his early years in Cleveland, growing up in a highly cultured family surrounded by Impressionist and early modern paintings, and continues through his career as museum director and his life in the Southwest as an art collector. Also included are essays on the aesthetic appreciation of American Indian art. J. C. H. King of the British Museum writes a history of collecting; Judith Ostrowitz focuses on Native American art in the context of theory and text. In his foreword, Eugene V. Thaw writes about Coe as his friend and fellow collector and the role Coe has played in the awareness of the artistic heritage of Native America.

Table of contents

Director's Foreword
Philippe de Montebello

Acknowledgments

Foreword
Eugene Victor Thaw

The Re-Education of an Art Collector: From Aesthetics to Culture
Ralph T. Coe

Marginality and Intelligence in the Collecting of Native American Art
J. C. H. King

"Full of Blood, Thunder and Springy Abandon": History, Text, and the Appreciation of Native American Art
Judith Ostrowitz

Map: Major Cultural Areas of North America

Catalogue
Ralph T. Coe

1. Prehistoric North America: The Unseen Past
2. Baskets: Hand-Woven Architecture
3. Northern Woodlands Utilitarian Objects: The Inner Character of Wood
4. Indian Fancies: Victorian Propriety
5. Weapons: Glorifying Combat
6. Ritual Objects and Imagery: Agents of the Spirit World
7. Models: Paradigns of Culture in Miniature
8. Smoke Offerings: Pipes and Tobacco Bags
9. Bags: Beauty, Mobility, and Symbols of Authority
10. Moccasins and Clothing: Dressed for Honor, Pride, and Nobility
11. Dolls and Figurines: Mirrors of Tribal Identity
12. Katsinas: Messengers of the Gods
13. Southwestern Pottery: From Earth to Ethos
14. Crest Displays: Heraldic Art of the Northwest Coast
15. Masks: Healing and Catharsis, Myth and Mystery
16. Boxes, Bowls, and Implements: Making the Mundane Magical

Bibliography

Index

About the authors

Ralph T. Coe is former Director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

Eugene V. Thaw is a well-known collector.

Jonathan King is Curator at the British Museum.

Judith Ostrowitz is an independent scholar.

Press reviews

Choice Reviews Online

"Coe is an informed, empathetic, sensitive voice for Native American art as represented by his lifelong collection ... In these frightening times, the horrifying images seem newly accurate and particularly valuable. A fine resource. Extraordinary bibliography ... Highly recommended."

Tags

Authors: Eugene Victor Thaw | J. C. H. King | Judith Ostrowitz | Ralph T. Coe

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