Sarape with Compound Banded Design

Description

Some Navajo blankets carry what fifth-generation Navajo weavers Barbara Teller Pete and Lynda Teller Ornelas call a “memory”—a tendency to fold along creases formed by previous wear. When this sarape is displayed according to its memory, as if draped around a person’s shoulders, its striped and checkered lines form a new pattern.

Provenance

Alan R. Brodie (died Oct. 18, 2010), Chicago, by 2010; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2012.

Sarape with Compound Banded Design

Diné (Navajo)

1870–95

Accession Number

210029

Medium

Natural and Germantown wool, plain weave and single interlocking tapestry weave; twined warp ends and selvages; looped and knotted augmented corner tassels; natural and synthetic dyes

Dimensions

186.7 × 137.8 cm (73 1/2 × 54 1/4 in.)

Classification

textile

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Alan R. Brodie