Southwest American Indian Art

              I. The Edward M. Daniels Collection of Indian blan-kets
shown through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. John
Payne of San Dimas, California. This large group of
superb textile material, of great variety both in design
and color, includes such cultures as Navaho, Pueblo,
Hopi, Acoma and Zuiii. Gathered by Mr. Daniels over a
period of many years, it represents the finest of collections
purchased with a view to excellence of condition and to
rarity.
II. Prehistoric Anasazi Ceramics. Two thousand years
ago, two main, basically different cultures existed in the
Southwestern United States, that of the Hohokam of
Southern Arizona and Southern New Mexico and that of
the Anasazi, the forerunners of those indians who live
today in the farming village communities of the Hopi
Pueblos of Arizona and the Zuiii, Acoma, Zia, Jemez,
Santo Domingo, Cochiti, San Juan, Santa Clara, Picuris,
Taos, San Ildefonso and other Pueblos of New Mexico.
Anasazi pottery is shown in this exhibition. The date of
these prehistoric examples ranges from the beginnings
of Anasazi pottery making, about 5 00-600 A.D. to about
1700 A.D. Then Spain solidified her domination of the
Southwest, a fact which terminated the prehistoric era.
The techniques of pottery making and decorating under­went
many changes during these centuries; different
times and also different regions developed their own
styles of pottery design. It is therefore possible to assign
a date and place of origin to a given vessel. With certain
exceptions, pottery designs have no sacred connotation.
They are an expression of man's creativity which makes
objects beautiful as well as functional.