Reference of Navajo jewelry

This beautiful book examines the first century of Navajo and Pueblo metal jewelry-making in the American Southwest. Beginning in the late 1860s, the region's native peoples learned metalworking and united it with a traditon of beads and ornaments made from turquoise and other natural materials. The cross-cultural appeal of this jewelry continued into the mid-1900s, and by the 1950s and 1960s masters created a legacy of fine art jewelry that is prized today.

This book gives the definitive account to date of the working of metals by Southwest Indians, from their first acquisition of metal from the Spanish to the sophisticated slivercraft of the present day Navajos and Pueblos.

More than 125 vivid color photos display groups of Indian-made wrought silver, turquoise, shell, and coral jewelry brought together from the American Southwest. The authors explore the diversity of this handcrafted jewelry from historic collections as well as those available today on reservations. Includes products of Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande Pueblo artisans.

Probably no native American handicrafts are more widely admired than Navajo weaving and Navajo and Pueblo silver work. This book contains the first full and authoritative account of the Indian silver jewelry fashioned in the Southwest by the Navajo and the Zuni, Hopi, and other Pueblo peoples. It is written by John Adair, a trained ethnologist who has become a recognized expert on this craft. “A volume conspicuously pleasing in its format and so strikingly handsome in its profuse illustrations as to rivet your attention once it chances to fall open. With the care of a meticulous and thorough scholar, the author has told the story of his several years’ investigation of jewelry making among the Southwestern Indians. So richly decorative are the plates he uses for his numerous illustrations showing the jewelry itself, the Indians working at it and the Indians wearing it—that the conscientious narrative is surrounded by an atmosphere of genuinely exciting visual experience.”—The Dallas Times Herald The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths provides a full history of the craft and the actual names and localities of the pioneer craftsmen who introduced the art of the silversmith to their people. Despite its present high stage of development, with its many subtle and often exquisite designs, the art of working silver is not an ancient one among the Navajo and Pueblo Indians. There are men still living today who remember the very first silversmiths.

A dazzling exploration of both traditional and contemporary jewelry. Spectacular photographs of the beautiful jewelry and sensitive portraits of the artists combine with an insightful, informative text to capture the spirit of this work and of the cultures from which it springs. Includes a collector's guide and a directory of sources. 210 illustrations, 155 in full color.