Fakes, Replicas, and Other Vexed Identities in Native American Art History

FAIN: FA-56359-12

Janet C. Berlo
University of Rochester (Rochester, NY 14627-0001)

I request support to write the first book devoted to the vexed issues of authenticity, falsification, and inter-cultural translation in Native American art history. This will include, but not be limited to, issues of forgery, replication (by Natives and non-Natives alike), and mis-attribution. Some actions seen in the early to mid-20th century as collaborations between Natives and non-Natives (carving, dancing, making of cultural replicas) are now often discussed solely in terms of who has the right to engage in acts of cultural translation, and who is a ‘real’ Indian making ‘real’ Indian art. Yet elsewhere in the academic community, such one-dimensional notions are increasingly replaced with analyses of hybrid identities, Creolité, and other cosmopolitan constructs. My case studies range from the archaeological to the historical to the contemporary. I offer close readings of objects and incidents that are sometimes seen as Native art, but may also be read as NOT Native art.

Associated Products

Navajo Sandpainting in the Age of Cross-Cultural Replication (Article)
Title: Navajo Sandpainting in the Age of Cross-Cultural Replication
Author: Berlo, Janet C.
Abstract: This essay examines more than 100 years of collaboration between Navajo sandpainters and non-Native interlocutors, and the circulation of sacred images not only within Navajo culture but also outside of the Navajo contexts where they are made for use in healing. Together, some Navajo medicine men and their non-Native collaborations sought to introduce the aesthetic beauty and philosophical intricacy of an ephemeral art used in ceremony to a wider audience, via drawings, paintings, silkscreen prints and textiles. Consideration is given to the way that replicas, copies, and translations were made in the early twentieth century. In some cases, this was a fraught topic then, and it has become even more complicated today.
Year: 2014
Access Model: subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Art History

American Indian Masks, Real and Fake: Ethics and Cultural Property in the 21st Century (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: American Indian Masks, Real and Fake: Ethics and Cultural Property in the 21st Century
Abstract: This lecture discusses the high-profile sales of Hopi and Zuni masks in Paris auction houses in 2013. Such auctions were criticized in the international press, for the sales were of sacred masks. Yet, according to some experts, it is likely that some of the masks were modern replicas. Issues of inter-cultural ethics, replication and repatriation will be covered, with reference made to several Native American groups.
Author: Janet C. Berlo
Date: 06/25/2014
Location: Terra Foundation and American Embassy, Paris, France

Not Native American Art: Fakes, Replicas, and Invented Traditions (Book)
Title: Not Native American Art: Fakes, Replicas, and Invented Traditions
Author: Janet Catherine Berlo
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295751368/not-native-american-art/
Primary URL Description: Publisher website
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780295751368

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