From: Rosanne Parry <rosanneparry_at_comcast.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:33:28 -0700

Thanks for bringing up an important and complex topic. The French case must be particularly frustrating to all the parties involved. We have a hard enough time thinking clearly about art within our own country. Adding the laws and culture of France to the issue lends a whole new layer of complexity. It will be interesting to see if they find a buyer and what becomes of the pieces once bought.

I have found it helpful to think of art objects as either public art, private art, or sacred art each category requiring a different level of attention.

Just because a mask is Native American in its origin doesn't automatically make it sacred art. I'm really only familiar with the tribes of the Pacific Northwest, so I'm sure it's possible that in some tribes every mask is sacred art. But some tribes use masks in a more secular manner and some artists make a legitimate living from the manufacture and sale of traditional style masks. Many art galleries are meticulous in their record keeping and develop long term, helpful relationships with artists who trade in what I think of as public art--pieces to which the maker has the right to create and which are not intended for private or sacred use.

There are less careful galleries, I'm sure, and unscrupulous buyers and sellers, particularly in the more difficult area of private art or older pieces in which the origin is unclear. I think regalia often falls into the category of private art--designed for a specific person, intended for a specific use, generally kept within an extended family, but might under some circumstances be appropriate for display in a museum or art gallery.

But it's complicated. Some kinds of regalia are sacred art and used only for a religious ceremony. For example, a wedding dress is what I think of as private art whereas the vestment of the minister worn in the same ceremony would be sacred art. The difference between these two objects is very obvious to me. So obvious I'd be shocked if someone sold a vestment on ebay or in a thrift shop in the way that you sometimes see a used wedding dress in a thrift shop. But I'm not sure that a person completely unfamiliar with western wedding customs would see these two garments as all that different. They are both floor length, highly decorated, and worn in church. Perhaps they would seem the same.

I'm glad to see Debbie Reese has an activity book to recommend that is respectful of these boundaries. I think most teachers have good will in the area of respect for Native American cultures, but have few resources to draw on. I'd hate to see them bypass Native American history all together out of frustration or give it a shallow overview for fear of offending people.

Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009

The auction and news coverage provides us with the chance to think about what is, and what is not, art.

Debbie

(my post about it: hers-native-masks-are-not-art.html)


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Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Received on Fri 12 Apr 2013 11:33:28 AM CDT