A Rochester art historian on the proliferation of indigenous fakes and replicas糖心传媒攁nd the blurry line between appropriation and admiration.
knows a thing or two about fakes. For starters, they can be hard to spot.
糖心传媒淢any things would fool me. I can糖心传媒檛 be an expert on the art works of scores of Native nations,糖心传媒� admits Berlo, a professor emerita in the at the . But a Northwest Coast Native mask made in Indonesia?聽糖心传媒淲ell, that糖心传媒檚 relatively easy.糖心传媒�
As the commercial value of Native American art has increased dramatically over the last decades, so has .
At one point, a top international auction house approached Berlo, an expert on Native American art and visual culture, for her opinion on a notebook of complex 19th-century Native American pencil drawings. There was just one small problem.
Berlo knew it was a fake. She was also convinced that the late Mexican caricaturist, Miguel Covarrubias, in whose estate the notebook was discovered, had never meant for it to be sold as authentic but had merely entertained himself by making his own version of Native art.
An 糖心传媒渁ccidental fake,糖心传媒� as Berlo calls it.
The auction house Sotheby糖心传媒檚, meanwhile, thanked her politely and then contacted other experts. Curators at the Smithsonian Institution agreed with Berlo糖心传媒檚 assessment. Eventually some non-academic, a known collector, spun a whole fantasy around the notebook. And up it went for auction as the real McCoy.
糖心传媒淎nybody in art history who deals with major auction houses gets disillusioned very quickly,糖心传媒� Berlo says.
Of course, forgery and mimicry aren糖心传媒檛 new phenomena. Renaissance artists classical originals. Take for example Sandro Botticelli糖心传媒檚 famous , in which the goddess covers her nakedness with her hands. That particular pose糖心传媒攃ribbed from classical sources糖心传媒攚as so widely copied in the Renaissance that it had its own name, 糖心传媒淰enus pudica.糖心传媒�
Following decades of research and interviews with curators, collectors, restorers, Native artists, and replica makers, Berlo has traced the historical and social contexts of forgeries, imitations, replications, and appropriations by both Native and non-Native makers. The result is her newest book, (University of Washington Press, 2023).
What is 糖心传媒榬eal糖心传媒� Native American art?
糖心传媒淎n excellent question,糖心传媒� says Berlo with a sigh. Recently, the FBI called to ask if she could lead a Zoom conference for a group of special agents. She told them they糖心传媒檇 be disappointed.
Those hoping for hard-and-fast rules won糖心传媒檛 get them from Berlo, who says she糖心传媒檚 not interested in being able to declare authoritatively, 糖心传媒淭his is how you tell which one is fake. And, no, real moosehide doesn糖心传媒檛 feel like this.糖心传媒� Instead, she糖心传媒檚 digging into the bigger cultural issues.
Her book is an invitation to ponder the tangled history of Native art. Thoughtful and nuanced in her writing, Berlo seeks answers in the gray areas, acknowledging that what constitutes 糖心传媒済enuine糖心传媒� versus 糖心传媒渇ake糖心传媒� when it comes to Native American identity and Native objects is often not clearcut.
Honored by the Native American Art Studies Association in 2023 with its , Berlo says she tried to show that 糖心传媒渟omething that seems very simple, is in reality complex and complicated, not something to make a snap judgment about.糖心传媒�
After a more than in art history, she wrote her latest book also in the hopes that younger generations of scholars won糖心传媒檛 rush to immediate judgment and condemn automatically 糖心传媒渁s cultural appropriation糖心传媒� when non-Native people are involved in creating Native-style art.
The paradox of 糖心传媒榓uthentic replicas糖心传媒�
Replica-making by non-Natives, Berlo points out, can entail painstaking training with Native crafts people, researching tribal histories, becoming expert in various techniques, and attempting to ensure the preservation of knowledge and traditions.
She tells the story of , non-Natives who make 糖心传媒渁uthentic replicas糖心传媒� from scratch. The Arizona couple has experimented with various aspects of making so-called Mimbres pottery糖心传媒攕pecifically, the pre-historic ceramic clay bowls featuring decorations of geometric patterns and natural life that were produced by the indigenous peoples of the in New Mexico about a thousand years ago.
Every aspect of the couple糖心传媒檚 craft conforms as closely as possible to ancient Mimbres-making practice, Berlo observed颅糖心传媒攆rom finding the right white clay, to firing bowls in open pits, to assessing the advantages of oak over cottonwood as fuel. Their experimentations, instructions, and results of nearly 40 years of reproducing Native pottery are carefully recorded in photos and notes that the couple intends to donate to the Arizona State Museum.
That begs the question糖心传媒攊s Native art automatically a forgery if it糖心传媒檚 made by a non-Native artist, even if it conforms to all the original procedures? Is careful reproduction a kind of illegitimate appropriation? Opinions differ widely, often depending on age.
糖心传媒淔or many of my colleagues under 40, it糖心传媒檚 cut and dry: You糖心传媒檙e either Native or non-Native. It糖心传媒檚 either right or it糖心传媒檚 wrong,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淏ut life is not that simple.糖心传媒�
And then there糖心传媒檚 the issue of Native artists糖心传媒� making replicas themselves. Is that considered forgery, too?
Take, for instance, the example of the Seneca people of western New York who during the Great Depression, under the auspices of the 1935 , a government employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin Roosevelt.
糖心传媒淭he impetus may be principally economic, and arise from outside the community,糖心传媒� Berlo writes, acknowledging that 糖心传媒渁esthetic pride in the work of ancestors is not incompatible with a desire to earn a living through one糖心传媒檚 art.糖心传媒�
Of course, borrowing ideas and using techniques from other cultures is nothing new. 糖心传媒淚f people only knew history, says the pedantic scholar in me, they would see that these actions are so old, and happen all around the world,糖心传媒� says Berlo, who has authored, coauthored, and coedited a dozen books, including four textbooks and a memoir, (Bison Books, 2001). Hardly anybody would argue colonialism didn糖心传媒檛 involve stealing and usurping. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 not saying, 糖心传媒極h, that糖心传媒檚 good.糖心传媒� But it糖心传媒檚 always been that way,糖心传媒� she notes.
Native American arts have long been enlivened by outside influences and additions. 糖心传媒淓veryone thinks of beadwork, when they think of Native American art,糖心传媒� she says. But beads were introduced from Venice more than 200 years ago. 糖心传媒淣o one would say that beads are now not 糖心传媒榯raditional糖心传媒� in Native art.糖心传媒�
The spectrum from admiration to appropriation
While cultural sensitivities have evolved over the last two decades, leading to greater awareness of cultural appropriation or misappropriation (such as reducing Native culture to a Halloween costume or party theme), gray areas nonetheless persist.
Tracing the long history of non-Natives 糖心传媒減laying Indian糖心传媒� and replicating Native American art comes with a whole host of underlying motivations, many of which have no harmful intentions but, rather, are signs of admiration, Berlo contends. Often the answer lies in the eye of the beholder.
糖心传媒淭he long-standing Anglo-American desire to recall and embody a mythic Native past is a troubling one, rooted in a deeply violent and racist past, as anyone with a cursory knowledge of American history recognizes,糖心传媒� Berlo writes in her chapter 糖心传媒淐ultural Cross-Dressers: A Long History of Imitating Indians.糖心传媒� Describing her visits to non-Native groups who engage in various reenactments of either fictional or historic Native events, Berlo discovered that while some of the participants 糖心传媒渄id have romanticized ideas,糖心传媒� many more demonstrated 糖心传媒渟o much knowledge and respect.糖心传媒�
The role-playing phenomenon is not limited to America. Germans, Berlo notes, love imitating a romanticized version of Native Americans, a tradition that predates even the (often inaccurate) adventure tales of widely read German author Karl May (1842糖心传媒�1912). According to Berlo, many Germans have been fascinated by North American Indians since the first translation of James Fenimore Cooper糖心传媒檚 Leatherstocking Tales nearly 200 years ago. Today, one would be hard-pressed to find a German who doesn糖心传媒檛 know the and his white 糖心传媒渂lood brother糖心传媒� Old Shatterhand, May糖心传媒檚 most famous fictional characters.
Since the early 1990s, the German town of Radebeul (May糖心传媒檚 last residence) has hosted an annual outdoor festival during which locals, dressed in pseudo-Native garb, participate as extras in the reenactments of the author糖心传媒檚 famous stories. An even larger, live outdoor drama, the in Bad Segeberg, has been running 糖心传媒淚ndian糖心传媒� theater performances every summer for the past 70 years.
Lakota artist and scholar Arthur Amiotte, one of Berlo糖心传媒檚 friends and past coauthors, has worked as a consultant for the Karl May Museum. 糖心传媒淗e糖心传媒檚 very relaxed about all of this,糖心传媒� Berlo says.
At one point, her research took an unexpected turn.
In coastal British Columbia, Canada, Berlo met a Native American who admitted to buying 糖心传媒淚ndian糖心传媒� , used by his family for ceremonial dances, from 糖心传媒渁 white guy.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a cosmopolitan world,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 no one-size-fits-all if you really take seriously the fact that Native cultures have interacted with so many forces in culture and history over the past 500 years.糖心传媒�
In April 2024, Confluences: A Celebration of Janet Berlo was held at Rochester to recognize Berlo糖心传媒檚 contributions to the discipline. for essays, reflections, and audio from the event.聽
