Hopi Pottery Tiles sold by Fred Harvey Company

Since the opening in April 2016 of the excellent Heard Museum exhibit Over the Edge: Fred Harvey at the Grand Canyon and in the Great Southwest, curated by Kathleen Howard and Diana Pardue…

Diana Pardue and Kathleen Howard. — *Co-Curators Diana Pardue and Kathleen Howard*.

We have been thinking again about the Hopi tiles sold by the Fred Harvey Company in the early twentieth century.

Rectangular Hopi tile, ca 1890-1910, with kachina mask design. — *Rectangular Hopi tile, ca 1890-1910, with kachina mask design*.

The Fred Harvey Company established the Indian Department in 1902, headquartered in the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, as a museum and showroom, with the intent of promoting and selling Indian handmade goods in its chain of lodges, shops, and restaurants at locations throughout the West.

Outside the Indian Building of the Alvarado Hotel, Pueblo potters sold their wares to guests and train passengers. — *Outside the Indian Building of the Alvarado Hotel, Pueblo potters sold their wares to guests and train passengers*.

The Indian Department also wholesaled Indian-made crafts to dealers and curio shops in the east. By the first decade of the twentieth century the Fred Harvey Company had become the largest distributor of high-quality Indian arts in the United States.

*Rectangular Hopi tile, ca 1890s with full-bodied kachina design. The streaky yellow color is the result of a coat of varnish applied by a previous owner.*

From the 1900s to the 1930s the Harvey Company was also the biggest outlet for Hopi tiles. In a 1963 Plateau article titled “The Fred Harvey Collection 1899-1963”, Byron Harvey III, great-grandson of founder Fred Harvey, referred to the Harvey Company’s inventory when he wrote, “C.L. Owen obtained Hopi pottery from his residence in Toreva in 1913 and included tiles and flower pots. A letter, written in 1921, estimated that the company still had over 2,700 of these Hopi tiles.”

Hexagonal Hopi tiles, ca 1890. — *Hexagonal Hopi tiles, ca 1890, may have been made by only a handful of Hopi potters*.

The tiles sold through the Harvey Company came in only three shapes: square, rectangle and hexagon. They exhibit signs of being nearly mass-produced, many showing hurried manufacture resulting in poor quality, and they were marketed primarily to tourists. Thousands of tiles were made between 1895 and 1930, and nearly every institution with an inventory of Hopi pottery—such as the Heard Museum, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Denver Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum—has one or more tiles with the ubiquitous Harvey Company sticker, FROM THE HOPI VILLAGES, attached to the back.

Though the Harvey Company sold the majority of these tiles (hence they are commonly termed “Fred Harvey tiles”), it is important to note that the company was not permitted to purchase directly from the Hopi until 1910, when Herman Schweizer, head of the Indian Department, was given permission by the government superintendent of the reservation. Until that time Harvey Company had obtained all Hopi crafts through reservation traders, especially Thomas Keam, although these traders did not sell solely to Fred Harvey.

Square Hopi tiles with kachina mask designs, measuring 3-3/8” square, ca 1890-1910. — *Square Hopi tiles with kachina mask designs, measuring 3-3/8” square, ca 1890-1910*.

The most common of these tiles are square in shape with the painted design of kachina masks. These tiles were made continuously for about thirty years, and vary minimally in size-typically 3-3/8” inches in height and width-this uniformity may indicate that molds were used in their production.

The painted designs were formulaic: most often two thin lines outline a single kachina mask. Perhaps ninety percent of Harvey tiles are decorated with kachina masks, as kachinas lent an exotic air while portraying tradition and authenticity to potential buyers, who were mostly tourists from the east unfamiliar with Indian pottery.

Most of the kachina masks are unidentifiable and fall into a category of fanciful depictions that are either conglomerations of various kachinas or otherwise altered masks. When actual masks are portrayed they are most often of Palhik Mana (Butterfly Maiden), Wakas (cow), Kipok (warrior), Koshare (Hano clown) or Qoqoqle (often referred to as the “Santa Claus” kachina). The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe has eighteen of these tiles in their collection, nine of which were originally shipped by trader Charles L. Owen from Toreva, Arizona to the Fred Harvey Company in 1913.

Hopi tiles were very popular, reaching their heyday in the first years of the twentieth century and peaking in the 1920s.

The Harvey Label

Back of Hopi tile with Fred Harvey label, ca 1890-1900. — *Back of Hopi tile with Fred Harvey label, ca 1890-1900*.

Byron Harvey III also discussed the “Fred Harvey label,” used by the Harvey Company in his 1963 article for Plateau. He reported that it was still in use at that time, and that the labels were intended as price stickers, as well as identifiers of origin, and cost codes were also recorded on them. The original label was rectangular with clipped edges, had a black border and measured approximately one inch by three-quarters of an inch in size.

*Typical label used by Fred Harvey Company on Hopi pottery.*

The typeface changed, presumably in the 1920s, to a sleeker Art Deco style, and a white outer border was added at the same time.

Less commonly seen variation of the Harvey label, ca 1920s. — *Less commonly seen variation of the Harvey label, ca 1920s*.

The most common label used was FROM THE HOPI VILLAGES, and it appeared on most Hopi pottery plus some kachina dolls sold through company stores. There were labels for other tribal affiliations-for example, “From the Pueblo of Santa Clara”. The stickers were used primarily from the 1900s to the 1930s and are less commonly seen on articles dating from the 1940s to the 1960s, perhaps reflecting the diminishing quantity of Indian crafts sold through the company after the 1930s.

The foregoing was derived from our book Hopi & Pueblo Tiles: An Illustrated History.

Originally published May 29, 2016 on our Goodreads.com blog.

Published Works of Barton Wright

(Compiled to the best of our ability, and likely incomplete)

Books

1962 – This is a Hopi Kachina, with Evelyn Roat. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona.

1973 – Kachinas: A Hopi Artist’s Documentary, illustrated by Cliff Bahnimptewa. Flagstaff: Northland Press, and Phoenix: Heard Museum.

1974 – Nampeyo, Hopi Potter: Her Artistry and Her Legacy, exhibition catalog. Fullerton: Muckenthaler Cultural Center.

1975 – Kachinas: The Barry Goldwater Collection at the Heard Museum, with Barry Goldwater and photographs by Jerry Jacka. Phoenix: W. A. Krueger Company and Heard Museum.

1975 – The Unchanging Hopi: An Artist’s Interpretation In Scratchboard Drawings And Text. Flagstaff: Northland Press.

1976 – Pueblo Shields from the Fred Harvey Fine Arts Collection. Flagstaff: Northland Press.

1977 – Hopi Kachinas: The Complete Guide to Collecting Kachina Dolls. Flagstaff: Northland Publishing.

1979 – Hopi Material Culture: Artifacts Gathered by H. R. Voth in the Fred Harvey Collection. Flagstaff: Northland Press and Phoenix: Heard Museum.

1982 – Year of the Hopi: Paintings and Photographs By Joseph Mora, 1904-1906, with Tyrone Stewart, Frederick Dockstader. New York: Rizzoli International Publications.

1986 – The Hopi Photographs: Kate Cory, 1905-1912, with Marnie Gaede & Marc Gaede. La Canada: Chaco Press.

1986 – Kachinas of the Zuni. Flagstaff: Northland Press.

1988 – Patterns and Sources of Zuni Kachinas, with Bill Harmsen and Clara Lee Tanner, illustrated by Reese Koontz. Denver: The Harmsen Publishing Company.

1988 – The Mythic World Of The Zuni, Frank Hamilton Cushing, edited and illustrated by Barton Wright. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

1989 – Hallmarks of the Southwest, in cooperation with the Indian Arts and Crafts Association. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

1991 – Kachinas: A Hopi Artist’s Documentary, illustrated by Cliff Bahnimptewa. Flagstaff, Northland Publishing, reprint of first published in 1973.

1994 – Kachina: poupees rituelles des Indiens Hopi et Zuni, exhibition catalog, 30 juin-2 octobre 1994, with Marie-Elizabeth Laniel-Le François, and others. Marseille: Musées de Marseille.

1994 – Clowns of the Hopi: Tradition Keepers and Delight Makers, photographs by Jerry Jacka. Flagstaff: Northland Publishing.

1994 – Enduring Traditions: Art of the Navajo, with Lois Essary Jacka and illustrated by Jerry Jacka. Flagstaff: Northland Publishing.

1997 – Pueblo Cultures, Iconography of Religions. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers.

2000 – Hallmarks of the Southwest, Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

2003 – Esprit Kachina: Poupees, Mythes et Ceremonies Chez les Indiens Hope et Zuni. (Kachina Spirit: Dolls, Myths and Ceremonies of the Hopi and Zuni Indians). with Pierre Amrouche, Nathalie Rheims, Francine Ndiaye, Paris: Galerie Flak.

2006 – Classic Hopi and Zuni Kachina Figures, photographs by Andrea Portago, includes “Pueblo Cultures, An Essay” by the author. Albuquerque: Museum of New Mexico Press.

2007 – Hopi & Pueblo Tiles: An Illustrated History, Kim Messier and Pat Messier, Foreword by Barton Wright. Tucson: Rio Nuevo Publishers.

2008 – Catclaw Cave, Lower Colorado River, Arizona, edited by Alan Ferg. Tucson: Arizona Archaeological Society; The Arizona Archaeologist No 37.

2014 – Kachinas: A Hopi Artist’s Documentary, paintings by Clifford Bahnimptewa, foreword by Ann Marshall. Albuquerque: Museum of New Mexico Press, reprint of first published in 1973.

Articles

1950 – “The Zanardelli Site, Arizona BB:13:12”, in The Kiva Vol 16, No 3, with Rex E. Gerald, The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society.

1956 – “A New Pleistocene Bighorn Sheep From Arizona”, with Claude W. Hibbard, in Journal of Mammalogy, Vol 37, No 1.

1975 – “Hopi Kachina – Feather Controversy” in Ray Manley’s Southwestern Indian Arts and Crafts, Tucson: Ray Manley Photography.

1976 – “Anasazi Murals”, American Indian Art, Vol 1, No 2

1976 – “Kachinas” in Arizona Highways Indian Arts and Crafts, Clara Lee Tanner, ed. Phoenix: Arizona Highways

1976 – “Tabletas, A Pueblo Art”, American Indian Art, Vol 1, No 3.

1977 – “Hopi Tiles”, American Indian Art, Vol 2, No 4.

1979 – Book review of Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis by Patricia Janis Broder, American Indian Art, Vol 4, no 4.

1980 – “Museum Collection: San Diego Museum of Man”, American Indian Art, Vol 5, No 4.

1982 – Book review of Southwestern Indian Ritual Drama, edited by Charlotte J. Frisbie, American Indian Art, Vol 7, No 2.

1984 – “Kachina Carvings”, American Indian Art, Vol 9, No 2.

1991 – “Initials, Symbols and Secret Codes”, Inter-Tribal America, Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial.

1992 – “Pueblo Shields”, American Indian Art, Vol 17, No 2.

1995 – “Clifford Bahnimptewa”, American Indian Art, Vol 21, No 1.

1995 – “Muriel Navasie,” American Indian Art, Vol 21, No 1.

2008 – “Hopi Kachinas: A Life Force” in Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History and Law, edited by Edna Glenn, John R. Wunder, Willard Hughes Rollings, and C. L. Martin. Lincoln: UNL Digital Commons.

As Illustrator

1959 – Master of the Moving Sea: The Life of Captain Peter John Riber Mathieson, from his Anecdotes, Manuscripts, Notes, Stories and Detailed Records, Gladys M. O. Gowlland. Flagstaff: J. F. Colton & Co.

1960 – Throw Stone, The First American Boy 25,000 Years Ago, E.B. Sayles and Mary Ellen Stevens. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Co.

1960 – Column South: With the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Suzanne Colton Wilson. Flagstaff: J.F. Colton & Co.

1962 – Little Cloud and the Great Plains Hunters 15,000 Years Ago, Mary Ellen Stevens and E.B. Sayles. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Books.

1962 – Seed Plants of Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments with Keys for the Identification of Species, W. B. McDougall, Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin No 37. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art.

1964 – Grand Canyon Wild Flowers, W.B. McDougall., Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin No 43. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art.

1968 – The Age Of Dinosaurs In Northern Arizona, William J. Breed. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona.

1974 – Hopi Silver: The History and Hallmarks of Hopi Silversmithing, Margaret Wright. Flagstaff: Northland Press.

1980 – Rivers of Remembrance, Diego Pérez de Luxán, Marilyn Francis. Quality Publications.

Discussed in:

1995 – Town Creek Indian Mound: A Native American Legacy, Joffre Lanning Coe. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Originally published on our Goodreads.com blog December 27, 2015.

The End of an Era

(This is Kim’s homage to the seminal magazine of Native American art research, which sadly ceased publication in 2015.)

In November 1975, when the inaugural issue of American Indian Art magazine was released, I was 14 years old, and Native American art was the furthest thing from my thoughts.

First cover of American Indian Art magazine.

Nine years later I made my first serious purchase of antique Indian art, a Hopi wedding basket from the 1920s, at an antique fair in Glendale, California (for $50, a bargain even back then, and a basket which is still in the collection, by the way). As Indian art grew from an interest, into a full-blown obsession, I became aware of the magazine. It was full of ads from prominent dealers and fascinating articles on things I could only dream of owning; I was enthralled well before I came to realize the significance of the articles and their authors. Pat and I subscribed and then searched for the back issues we did not have. I looked forward to every issue, it became an accomplice of my addiction, like the spoon that held the heroin.

Cover of the last issue of American Indian Art magazine.

Now American Indian Art magazine has announced it’s final issue will be published in August, after 40 years of quarterly publications, 160 issues in all. I will miss it with every fiber of my being.

For me, whose particular passion is historic southwestern art and the tourist era 1880-1940, there was always something to read and discuss in each issue, whether it was legal (NAGPRA) updates, book reviews or even the dealer’s ads. I also liked how professional it was, how it artfully walked the line between academia and popular writing; how, like no other periodical, it focused on antique Indian art (but not exclusively).

It could be said that American Indian Art introduced us to Barton and Margaret Wright, literally. If we had not devoured Barton’s article “Hopi Tiles”, especially the bibliography, in the Autumn 1977 issue then Pat would not have contacted Barton to ask where we could obtain Suzanne Love’s master’s thesis “Hopi Tiles”. In his gracious manner, Barton invited us to their home and allowed us to have a copy made of his personal copy of the thesis; this was the beginning of perhaps the most influential friendship in our lives, and one that would lead us to our own publishing adventures.

Hopi Tiles article by Barton Wright. — *We never did figure out why a Zia tile was the leading image of the article…*

It was one of my great desires to be published in American Indian Art. We actually had a brilliant idea, one that likely would have passed the prestigious editorial advisory board, but the timing was bad so we declined to move forward for professional and personal reasons. Now that dream has come to an end.

After August 1, 2015 there will be no more articles about historic Pueblo pottery, or Navajo weavings, katsina dolls, southwestern jewelry, Navajo horse trappings, Apache playing cards, Plains beadwork, California basketry, or hundreds of other aspects of American Indian art. Will these articles find a new venue or be relegated to obscure anthropology journals?

Publisher Mary Hamilton and staff (shout out to editor Tobi Lopez Taylor), should be congratulated for forty years of publishing success. But I’m too heartbroken to extend any other accolades. I have never known a time during my collecting/researching/publishing avocation that did not include American Indian Art magazine. Will there ever be another periodical to fill the very large void being left behind?

Originally published on our Goodreads.com blog July 10, 2015.