Many American Indian art objects are basically intended to perform a service—for example, to act as a container or to provide a means of worship. The particular utilitarian form that Native American arts take often reflects the social organization of the cultures involved. Political and military societies seem to have found their major art forms in the world of weaponry, regalia, and panoply. This is most pronounced in the Plains, Aztec, and Inca civilizations, all of which reflect the dominant warrior culture in their arts. Those cultures in which life was heavily governed by religion tended toward a greater degree of ceremonial art than those in which life was less ritualized. All of the aesthetic expressions that have come down from the Maya, for example, obviously reflect the considerable weight of theocracy that existed in their world.

Generally, but not necessarily, the best of American Indian artwork was applied to those objects intended to please a deity, soothe the angry gods, placate or frighten the evil spirits, and honour the newly born or recently deceased. Through such means, Native Americans sought to control the environment and the human or supernatural beings that surrounded or threatened them.

Some specific articles were reserved solely for religious uses, and some were for secular needs alone. Decoration does not always provide a clue as to these uses. Some of the most highly revered religious articles are completely devoid of ornamentation—in fact, they may be rather ugly—while others are highly embellished. Some peoples used plainware bowls for food preparation, while others used polychrome bowls for the same purpose. Many objects served a dual function: normally, they were used for everyday household purposes, yet under a different set of circumstances they could fulfill a religious function. Beneath the surface, there was a magic at work, and, in initiated hands, a mundane article might release its supernatural power, calling upon unseen forces to aid its owner. This power might be visually evident in the form, shape, or decoration of the object or might simply be believed in no matter what the physical state or appearance of the object might be. A Crow warrior’s rawhide shield, for example, might be embellished with a symbolic drawing, as well as with such materials as sacred eagle feathers and a crane’s head, in order to imbue him or her with such qualities as invulnerability and supernatural swiftness and strength.

The aim of the American Indian artist was not merely to set down realistic records but to create the semi-magical designs so common in the art of non-Western cultures. The artist quickly realized that he or she could not draw a tree as perfectly as it could be made by the Creator; so, with common sense, the artist did not try. Instead, he or she sought the spirit or essence of the tree and represented this in the design. Carvings, paintings, effigies, or realistic portraits are not simply pictures of people or objects; they embody the essence of that particular subject as well. This semi-magical character of Native American art is difficult for the Western mind to understand. Not infrequently, the non-American Indian will ask, “What does that design mean?” Native Americans often attach names to designs, largely for convenience. Viewers may be confused when an American Indian calls a given design a “leaf,” or an “arrowhead,” when what is actually meant is that the design is “leaflike,” or “leaf-shaped,” and so on. But the non-American Indian immediately translates this to mean that the design signifies a leaf or an arrowhead and tries to impart a narrative to the overall visual concept that is not relevant to the original artist’s work.

Ritual was often interwoven into the very process of creating American Indian art. Western assessment of Native American art often centres on the product rather than the process; American Indian artists, however, give exacting attention to the creative process and interact with their materials at all stages of creation. The Iroquois False Face mask, for example, must be carved from the trunk of a living tree—hence the term live mask. The tree is ritually addressed before the carver begins, and the mask and the tree are “fed” tobacco before the two are separated. Such prescribed ritual is of equal, if not more, importance than the artistic skill employed in the production of the work. If the ceremonial acts were ignored, the article would lose its efficacy—and might even prove dangerously counteractive. This ritual aspect, which permeates most of the ceremonial paraphernalia, is extremely complex and must be considered throughout the creation of the work of art.

Not all American Indian art, however, was religious or political. There was also a considerable amount of mundane, humorous, and even profane art produced by most cultures. Although much of the eroticism has disappeared in the Puritan fires that continue to burn the Westerner, sufficient examples remain from prehistoric and recent times to indicate a wholly relaxed freedom of expression reflecting a healthy, naturalistic outlook.

Materials

Working in the materials natural to their respective homelands, the various Native American cultures produced art that reflected their environment. Those peoples living in heavily forested regions, for example, inevitably became gifted sculptors in wood; those for whom clay was a major resource became skillful potters; and those living in the grasslands became fine basket weavers. There is virtually no natural medium that has not been explored and mastered by the American Indian: jade, turquoise, shell, metals, stone, milkweed fibre, birch bark, porcupine quills, deer hair, llama dung, sea lion whiskers—all were used by the artist to lend colour or texture to the finished product. In many instances, such materials became desired commodities in themselves, to be traded over great distances; for certain objects were not regarded as “official” unless they were manufactured from a prescribed material, and, especially for religious purposes, a substitute could not be tolerated. Often, in such cases, the materials achieved a standard value within the economy, with ready acceptance as a medium of exchange wherever they were in vogue.

The relationship between material and design in American Indian art was quite different from that in the Western tradition. The Western painter usually imposed a design on the artificially limited surface of a flat, rectangular canvas; and the sculptor, following predetermined spatial arrangements, imposed a shape on the material. On the other hand, the American Indian painter and sculptor were less likely to force their materials to conform to a preconceived design. They tended instead to adapt their design to the natural outlines of their materials, which often happened to be a complete and therefore irregular buffalo hide, a tree branch, or a stone. This naturalism is one of the most pleasing aspects of American Indian art and often demonstrates the artist’s remarkable ability to incorporate the natural form into the composition.

Southwest

In the Southwest, the monumental stone cliff dwellings that remain are eloquent testimony to the culture that existed there. Progressing from a simple pit house through aboveground homes, these people moved out onto the plateau regions of what are now Arizona and New Mexico and built remarkable multistoried structures, some—such as Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico—sheltering hundreds of families in more than 400 rooms.

These apartment houses were well suited for the demands of their environment; their walls were of stone or clay and sand mixed as an adobe. The thick stone walls provided excellent insulation, being warm in winter and cool in summer. Heights reached to seven stories, although most villages were of three or four levels.

Major divisions of these early Southwestern American Indians included the Hohokam of southern Arizona, the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) of northern Arizona–New Mexico, and the Mogollon of southwestern New Mexico. In addition to these groups—each of which produced a style of its own, distinct from all others—were dozens of lesser subgroups that archaeologists have been studying for decades in an effort to assemble the pieces of this giant jigsaw puzzle.

The people living in the pueblos produced some of the most successful artwork. They were masters of weaving, painting, and particularly of pottery making. Their weaving techniques long antedated the arrival of Spanish sheep; a native cotton provided ample fibre for intricate weaves coloured with native dyes. Mineral and vegetable pigments provided colourful decorations when applied with a fibre brush to wood or clay or to white-plastered walls in a fresco technique. Fortunately, abundant kaolin deposits yielded high-quality clay for the creation of excellent pottery forms. Although small stone effigies have been found, sculpture was not a highly developed art form. Pueblo art is essentially linear or geometric in design and reveals a preference for applied decoration. The large underground kivas (rooms used for religious purposes) were decorated with murals executed in brilliant mineral-pigment colours.

Pueblo art became a strongly conventionalized art, held to relatively rigid forms. This characteristic was determined, no doubt, by the closely knit communal nature of a culture that depended upon close cooperation for survival. At its best, early Southwestern art is marked by technical competence and fine control of line and form; but it reflected little experimentation, tending more to rework established patterns in many intricate designs.

In the Southwest the arts flourished and are still active forces in the lives of the peoples who practice them. Almost all of the crafts practiced in prehistoric times are still practiced today, along with some newly introduced expressions. The early trade routes brought new ideas to the Pueblos, encouraging the development of new creations and the strengthening of new markets. Yet, because of its essential conservatism, Pueblo art, like the culture in which it thrives, remains closely related to its ancient antecedents.

Along the same trade routes came invading tribes from other regions, particularly the Navajo and Apache, who subsequently settled in the Southwest and in time surpassed their teachers in certain arts that they adopted, improved upon, and made their own—notably, silversmithing and weaving. Whereas Pueblo weavers once dominated the textile field, the work of the remarkably inventive Navajo weavers became highly sought after in the late 20th century. Silversmithing, another famed Navajo art, is more recent; it was in 1853 that the first Navajo smith took up the tools of the craft, but within the next century Navajo jewelry and ornaments acquired a wide appreciation.

As in the prehistoric era, Southwestern sculpture has failed to develop as a major art form. The most active sculptural work in the Southwest is reflected in the carved and painted cottonwood kachina (katsina) dolls (see kachina) of the Hopi and Zuni, which have enjoyed wide popularity as collectors’ items. Many variations of these wood carvings are also found in altar and shrine figurines, which are not produced for commercial consumption.

The crafts of basketry and pottery are moderately active. But very little pottery is made for native use; it is largely intended for the outside market. Although both pottery and basketry are produced in much smaller quantities than they were after first European contact, the quality of contemporary work is consistently high.

Specialization has long been a factor in Southwestern art and has become increasingly so in recent years. Certain tribes produce almost all of the small carved fetishes, or tiny drilled shell and stone beads. The Zuni favour intricately worked silver jewelry with tiny turquoise settings, while the Navajo make use of massive silver castings with heavy turquoise sets. The Navajo also make most of the heavy rugs and textiles, while the Hopi supply lightweight ceremonial kilts, sashes, and similar costume fabrics.

Another art form that may have been brought from the north, but that was more likely adopted from Pueblo culture, is sand painting (more accurately termed dry painting). The use of a variety of finely ground mineral pigments, which are allowed to trickle through the fingers to form a variety of complicated patterns, has become uniquely Navajo. These designs provide a focus for curing ceremonies.