Table Of ContentBeneath the Surface
The Aesthetic and Ideological Appropriation of Native American Artwork
BY
Brandon Ruud
B.A., University of West Florida, 1991
M.A., The George Washington University, 1996
THESIS
Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History
In the Graduate College for the
University of Illinois at Chicago, 2015
Chicago, Illinois
Defense Committee:
Ellen Taylor Baird, Chair and Advisor
Esra Akcan, School of Art and Art History
Sarah Burns, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Debra N. Mancoff, Independent Scholar
Virginia E. Miller, School of Art and Art History
This thesis is dedicated to my best friend and partner, Greg Nosan, without
whom it would not have been possible.
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Acknowledgments
My greatest thanks goes to the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) community, its
faculty, staff, and students. I would like to first and foremost acknowledge and thank
my committee and its chair, Ellen Taylor Baird, Professor Emerita, School of Art and Art
History; I am deeply indebted to Dr. Baird for her constant attention and thoughtful
comments throughout all stages of this dissertation as well as for all her administrative
and organizational efforts. Beyond her excellent advice and thorough reading of the
manuscript, I am also deeply appreciative of her friendship over the years, which made
the process all the more a pleasure.
I am no less grateful for the expertise, meticulousness, and patience of my entire
committee: Esra Akcan, Associate Professor, School of Art and Art History, University
of Illinois, Chicago, and for much of my time as a student, Director of Graduate Studies;
Sarah Burns, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University; Debra N. Mancoff, independent
scholar and former Adjunct Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and
former Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Beloit College; and
Virginia E. Miller, Associate Professor, School of Art and Art History, University of
Illinois, Chicago. Each committee member brought her own particular expertise,
knowledge, and perspective to the dissertation, from the Arts and Crafts movement to
nineteenth-century American painting, from modern architecture and postcolonial
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theory to Mesoamerican and Pre-Columbian architecture, art, and culture. Their
familiarity with these seemingly diverse topics helped shape and improve the written
product that tied all of these unique elements together, and for that I am deeply
grateful.
In addition to my committee, I am grateful for the guidance and education I received
from other UIC faculty and scholars with whom I had the privilege of working. Among
them are: John D’Emilio, Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and History; Peter B.
Hales, Professor Emeritus; Victor Margolin, Professor Emeritus; Sidney K. Robinson,
Professor Emeritus of Modern Architecture; and David M. Sokol, Professor Emeritus, all
in the School of Art and Art History. Finally, I am thankful for other members of UIC’s
School of Art and Art History for their encouragement and support: Nina Dubin,
Associate Professor; Hannah B. Higgins, Professor and Chair; and Susanne Uslenghi,
Department Assistant. Not least, I am indebted to fellow students and PhD candidates,
especially Erica Morawski, my study partner during the period of our comprehensive
exams, and Monica Obniski, a professional collaborator for many years now with a
special interest in and knowledge of decorative arts and design.
I am also grateful to UIC’s School of Art and Art History for multiple opportunities to
develop this project and further my research: I presented my initial thesis and a very
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early draft of a chapter of this dissertation at the annual Art and Art History PhD
Graduate Symposium in 2010 and was the department’s selection at the Graduate
Student Symposium at the Art Institute of Chicago that same spring. Both events
afforded me the opportunity to connect with engaged, smart students across disciplines
from different colleges throughout the Midwest who were in the same stages of
dissertation development.
Finally, I am appreciative of the financial resources that I received from UIC’s School of
Art and Art History, including tuition waivers and a teaching assistantship, and
especially a research travel grant that allowed me to view the southern California
homes of Frank Lloyd Wright and spend time researching and writing at the Getty
Research Institute in Los Angeles.
I am also equally indebted to art-historical professional organizations that helped me
consider themes within the dissertation and improve them, as well as engage with
colleagues in the field. I am thankful to the Association of Historians of American Art
for awarding me and a colleague the professional session at the 2012 College Art
Association conference in Los Angeles. This session, titled “Ideology, Industry, and
Instinct,” focused on labor as an artistic practice and as a subject from the late-
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nineteenth century to the present day and helped structure my ideas and shape my
subsequent research on American labor at the turn of the century.
In addition, friends in the American art field provided guidance, receptive ears, and
support over the years: I am grateful for the advice and intelligence of my former boss
and mentor Judith A. Barter, Field-McCormick Chair, Department of American Art at
the Art Institute of Chicago; Randall Griffey, Associate Curator at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York; and Wendy J. Katz, Associate Professor in the
Department of Art at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and co-coordinator of the
2012 Association of American Art/College Art Association professional session. During
the course of this project, all of them offered solace and suggestions that helped polish
the final product.
Finally, but not least, I am eternally grateful for the patience and understanding of my
family and friends, and in particular, my partner, Greg Nosan, an experienced and
skilled editor with an academic and museum background. I could not have finished this
project without his keen intelligence and sharp proofreading skills, but, most of all, I am
grateful for his love and humor, which kept me going. This dissertation is dedicated to
him.
BKR
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication…………………………………………………………………… i
Acknowledgments………………………………………………………….. ii
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………. vi
List of Illustrations………………………………………………………….... vii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………….. xv
CHAPTER PAGE
1. Introduction: The Aesthetic and Ideological Appropriation of Native
American Artwork during the Arts and Crafts
Period……………………………………………………………… 1
2. Hoydens and Hooligans: The Perils and Spectacle of Labor
……………………………………………………………………… 31
3. The American Arts and Crafts Movement, Middle-Class Taste,
and Native American Art………………………………………… 83
4. As Manly as the Greeks! Constructing Gender through
Indigenous Design………………………………………………… 137
5. Beneath the Surface: Indigenous Art and the Construction of
Anglo-American Artwork………………………………………… 182
References……………………………………………………………………… 231
Illustrations…………………………………………………………………….. 252
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ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
Chapter One
1.1 Henry Farny, Song of the Talking Wire, 1904; oil on canvas.
Cincinnati Art Museum. 253
Chapter Two
2.1 George de Forest Brush, The Weaver, 1889; oil on canvas.
Terra Foundation for American Art. 254
2.2 John A. Anderson, Kills Two, A Brulé Sioux Medicine Man
Doing the Big Missouri Winter Count, c. 1923;
gelatin silver print. Nebraska State Historical Society. 255
2.3 Eanger Irving Couse, Arrow Maker, c. 1900; oil on canvas.
Sheldon Museum of Art. 256
2.4 Walter Ufer, Builders of the Desert, 1923; oil on canvas.
Terra Foundation for American Art. 257
2.5 Diego Rivera, The Weaver, 1936; tempera and oil on canvas.
Art Institute of Chicago. 258
2.6 Thomas Pollock Anshutz, The Ironworkers’ Noontime, 1880;
oil on canvas. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 259
2.7 Thomas Pollock Anshutz, The Ironworkers’ Noontime (detail), 1880;
oil on canvas. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 260
2.8 Thomas Pollock Anshutz, The Farmer and His Son at Harvesting,
1879; oil on canvas. Private collection. 261
2.9 Walter Gay, Cigarette Girls, Seville, 1895; oil on canvas.
Colby College Museum of Art. 262
2.10 Walter Gay, Cigarette Girls, Seville, 1895 (detail); oil on canvas.
Colby College Museum of Art. 263
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2.11 Engraver Unknown, The Street-Girl's End, from
Charles Loring Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York, 1872. 264
2.12 John Rogers, The Town Pump, 1862; plaster.
Sheldon Museum of Art. 265
2.13 Emma Stebbins, Machinist, c. 1859; marble.
Art Institute of Chicago. 266
2.14 Emma Stebbins, Machinist’s Apprentice, c. 1859; marble.
Art Institute of Chicago. 266
2.15 Samuel S. Carr, Every Little Bit Helps, c. 1872; oil on canvas
mounted on Masonite. Newark Museum. 267
2.16 John George (J. G.) Brown, Boot Black, c. 1890; oil on canvas.
Sheldon Museum of Art. 268
2.17 J. G. Brown, The Boy Violinist, 1874; oil on canvas.
Brooklyn Museum. 269
2.18 J. G. Brown, The Little Strollers, 1874; oil on canvas.
Whereabouts unknown. 270
2.19 J. G. Brown, Apple Seller, 1885; oil on canvas.
Mead Art Museum, Amherst College. 271
Chapter Three
3.1 Designed by Annie E. Aldrich, made by John Swallow,
decorated by Sarah Tutt, Made by Marblehead Pottery
Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1904–1936, Vase, c. 1909;
glazed earthenware. Art Institute of Chicago. 272
3.2 Designed by Marie Hoa le Blanc and
made by Joseph Fortune Mayer for Newcomb College Pottery,
New Orleans, Louisiana, Vase, 1904; glazed earthenware.
Newcomb College, Tulane University. 273
3.3 Made by Anna Francis Simpson for Newcomb College,
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Cypress in Spring, Embroidered Wall Hanging, 1910–29; cotton.
Private collection. 274
3.4 Navajo, Germantown “Eye Dazzler,” c. 1890; cotton and wool.
Arizona State Museum. 275
3.5 Navajo, Germantown “Eye Dazzler,” c. 1895; cotton and wool.
Arizona State Museum. 275
3.6 Navajo, Blanket or Rug, 1910–20; cotton and wool.
Art Institute of Chicago. 276
3.7 Advertisement, “Good Things from the West,”
House Beautiful, October 1900. 277
3.8 Advertisement, Curio Shop, “Decorate your Den,”
Craftsman, 1902. 277
3.9 Unknown Photographer, Interior of Roycroft Furniture Shop, c. 1907.
Ryerson and Burnham Archives, Art Institute of Chicago. 278
3.10 Unknown Photographer, Lobby of the Roycroft Inn, from
The Book of the Roycrofters, 1914. 278
3.11 Gustav Stickley, Carpet, 1900/10; cotton, paper, and wool.
Art Institute of Chicago. 279
3.12 Sally Buris, Twined Basketry Bowl, 1870/1900; plant fibers.
Art Institute of Chicago. 280
3.13 Yokuts, Central or southern California, Feathered Bottleneck Basket
with Bands of Interlocking Diamonds, late 19th/early 20th century;
plant fibers, feathers, and wool with dye. Art Institute of Chicago. 280
3.14 Unknown photographer, “The Rattlesnake Border,” from
Irene Sargent, “Indian Basketry,” Craftsman, December 1904. 281
3.15 Cover, The Basket, July 1903. 282
3.16 Unknown photographer, Hopi Woman Weaving Basket, from
George Wharton James, “Primitive Inventions,” Craftsman,
November, 1903. 283
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