Unknown artist, Diné (Navajo); North American Indian

This style of Navajo blanket is referred to as “third phase” because of its pattern of stripes embellished with diamond-shaped lozenges and its date, somewhat later than the blanket to the left but still within the Bosque Redondo period (1864-68). The donor’s husband, John Sloan (1871-1951), was one among many American artists, such as Robert Henri and George Bellows, who frequented the artist’s colony at Santa Fe in the 1920s and 30s, painted the New Mexican landscape, and became interested in Indian artifacts. The donor, Mrs. Sloan, owned a shop in New York that sold American Indian objects during the 1920s. In 1931, John Sloan collaborated with Rhode-Island-born writer Oliver LaFarge (1901-63) on the traveling exhibition An Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts (1931-33). Mrs. Sloan gave their collection of Navajo blankets to the Museum in 1942.
Gift of Mrs. John Sloan 42.088