The Use of the Swastika Symbol in American Indian Art

One of the most popular designs incorporated into American Indian art during the tourist era— approximately 1890 to 1940—was the swastika symbol, common to most indigenous peoples the world over and used throughout time.

*Copper bookends by Morris Robinson (Hopi). The swastika design indicates they were made before 1940.*

There is historical precedence of the use of swastika-like designs by North American native peoples, who usually viewed the symbol as a representation of the four directions; for instance the Navajo use a design often referred to as “whirling logs” in sandpaintings,

1930s postcard showing Navajos creating a Whirling Log sandpainting, the design is similar to the swastika design.

and the Hopi paint a four-armed pinwheel design on rattles symbolizing the migrations of the clans across the continent.

Hopi rattle with four-armed migration symbol. — *Hopi rattle with four-armed migration symbol*.

A great deal of interest was generated in the swastika symbol around the turn of the twentieth century and was fueled in part by an 1894 report of the U.S. National Museum written by Thomas Wilson entitled The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migrations. The symbol became a very popular design element representing good luck and was prevalent in period architecture, advertising, jewelry, and on good luck tokens. The Arizona Highway Department even used it as part of their emblem. Because of its popularity, traders encouraged Indian artists to use it on their crafts made for sale to the tourist trade. The design often appeared on silverwork, textiles, pottery, and basketry.

*Zia pottery tile ca. 1930s with painted swastika design.*

Beginning in 1934 East Coast dealers of Indian goods urged reservation traders to discourage native craftspeople from using the swastika as a design element because of its adoption by the German Nazi Party. When the Fred Harvey Company, a major dealer in Indian arts, issued a mail order catalog in 1938 the symbol had been discontinued from their products.

Fred Harvey mail order catalog published 1938. — *Fred Harvey mail order catalog published 1938*.

Popularity of the design waned, eventually resulting in a proclamation signed on February 28, 1940, in Tucson by representatives from the Hopi, Navajo, Apache, and Tohono O’odham (formerly Papago) tribes, renouncing and banning the use of the swastika on their artwork. The text of this parchment document read:

Because the above ornament which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, Therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika or fylfot on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sandpaintings and clothing.

*Postcard showing Indians from various southwest tribes signing a declaration that they would not use the swastika symbol on their artwork after February 28, 1940.*

It is likely that the signing of the document by members of southwest tribes was a form of public relations arranged by area traders to distance Indian handicrafts from the atrocities occurring overseas. Nevertheless, the inclusion of this symbol on Indian artwork was discontinued at that time.

There was a small resurgence of the use of the symbol in the 1970s, especially by some Anglo silversmiths who made jewelry to look like historic, or pawn, Navajo jewelry. Presently, Native artists occasionally attempt to reintroduce the symbol into their artwork, but it has been met with resistance.

Six bracelets, c. 1925, marked SOLID SILVER HAND MADE AT THE "INDIAN" GARDEN OF THE GODS-COLO, most include a form of the swastika design. — Six bracelets, c. 1925, marked SOLID SILVER HAND MADE AT THE “INDIAN” GARDEN OF THE GODS-COLO, most include a form of the swastika design.

The foregoing was adapted from our books Hopi & Pueblo Tiles: An Illustrated History and Reassessing Hallmarks of Native Southwest Jewelry: Artists, Traders, Guilds, and the Government.

Originally posted on our Goodreads.com blog February 15, 2017.

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.

Tag: Fred Harvey Company

The Use of the Swastika Symbol in American Indian Art

Hopi Pottery Tiles sold by Fred Harvey Company