Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-29

WV WASHINGTON, D. c., June 24.-The
wv Navajo weayers have reached new
height of fame. The attention of the
flapper has been attracted to their wonderful
barbaric designs and a wave Of Navajo sweat
ers is sweeping the country.
Flappers are blazing forth in sweaters knit
ted in true Navajo colors, red green, yellow,
white, and black. Typical Indian designs
diamonds, zigzags, even angular human fig
ures-march in stiff borders across the fash
ionable ma1dens' chest.
The Navajo squaw remains oblvious to this
final tribute to her art Stoically she contin-
ues to weave blankets to supply the never
ending demands Of pale face collectors and
tourists
The Navajo blanket is one of the strangest
art developments in this country. No blank
e. makers have ever riValed the squaws of this
race who sit in their huts and weaving mystic
rious stories on primitive looms.
The weavers are almost everything that we
would not expect. We think # the Indian
arts as evolving slowly out Of long ago cen
turtles Yet scientists believe that the Navahos
learned their craft Unly since 1920, and that
colors were not employed by them in blanket
making until 1900. In other words: the Nava-
no squaw became master craftsman scarcely
L. ore than hundred years ago, but in single
century of development her work has been
1nounced a high type of barbafic art and
eagerly sought af.or by numerous collectors.
Another unexpected turn to Navajo blanket
making is that among the deliberately design
ed blankets no two are alike. The squaw
ANTS no picture nor finished blanket to copy.
She Weaves from memory and from the life
around her. Jagged terraces of lines are the
mountains. Rows of square figures are In
dian villages. Red lines are sunbeams and
zigzag lines are lightning.
Can Not Copy Their Work
Connoisseurs have shown weaver par
ticularly admired pattern and asked for du-
plicate. The Navajo agrees wonderingly, and
sits down to work. But at some stage the
idea that the white man can really want a
mechanical copy grows too impossible for her
to understand, or else she is carried away by
her art. At any rate the reproduction is
rarely just like the original.
The work of the Navajo squaw is slowly,
conscientiously done She may spend six
months or more on blanket that appeals to
| her fancy. Yet-again the paradox of the
| Navaho-the master weavers do not attempt
| to turn out perfect work. 1t may be that the
| race holds to the Oriental belief that only
| Allah can achieve perfection, and that 1t is
fitting for men to acknowledge their human
| estate by deliberately falling a little short.
| Whatever the theory, the Navajo weaver,
with all her skill. does not try to make her
! strip of textile perfect. She may have three
| triangles in design in one corner and four
| in the other. Such defect is obviously in
territorial because the weavers achieve fine
patterns and can repeat tiny motif exactly
all around blanket when desired.
| The NavahOs are lie only people who can
| thoroughly unders and the symbolism Of the
| blanket designs, yet comparatively few OF
| their fine blankets are kept for home use.
| A squaw weaves the story of her life or
| some dramatic incident Of tribal history into
| blanket and goes out to sell it to a trader.
| Often the story is never read because the
Navahos are far froro loquacious in explain
| ing their symbolism to the white man. But
| apparently the Navajo weaver does not ex-
pect an understanding audience for her tale.
| She satisfies some creative instinct by pro-
| ducing the blanket ana then she makes an
other. Her own tribe now prefers blankets
from American factories about the home.
| They are not art work but they are lighter
| i, weight and cheaper.
Almost every popular kind of craft work
| can be initiated, but the Navajo blanket de-
| fes machinery. The colors are used and
| dropped in a fashion that cannot be copied
| by weaving machines.
| limitations Easily Detected
Such machine-made limitations as are on
the market fall so far short of the beauty of
| the handmade articles that they do not
achieve ready sale. limitations easily de-
tected. In genuine Navajo blanket the de-
| sign is exactly the same on both sides. A pin
| stuck through will come out on the other side
at exactly the same color and place in the de-
| sign.
| Though limitations are not numerous the
| government has taken precautions against
| the sale of such articles for genuine Navajo
| blankets. Every product of the Indian weav-
er's loom is inspected and tagged before the
| trader can handle it. The tax is protec-
| ton to both the weaver and the buyer.
| Since weaving is the best thing that the
| Navahos do, the government encourages them
to make a living by their art. In the schools
Indians who are skilled weavers are employed