Art Institute of Chicago

Men's Wearing Blanket (Third Phase Chief Style)

Unknown weaver

Date

c. 1870–1880

Medium

Wool, wedge tapestry weave, bound edges with corner tassels

Culture

Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Horizontal black stripes and bright red diamonds span this men’s wearing blanket. White crosses dotting its edges and center pay homage to Spider Woman (Na’ashjé’ii Asdzą́ą́), the sacred being who gave Navajo people the gift of weaving. Weavers tell Spider Woman stories only in the winter time, when spiders and other insects are at rest. Although Navajo blankets are often displayed flat, they are created to be folded and worn. Fifth-generation Navajo weaver Lynda Teller Pete emphasizes that these blankets are “made for warmth.” Not only do blankets provide physical comfort, their circulation through trade economies also sustains weavers’ communities. “Every textile that Navajo people have produced fed someone’s family,” says Teller Pete. This blanket was donated by the family of Father Peter J. Powell (1928–2022). Father Powell was an Anglican priest, a Northern Cheyenne Chiefs Society member, and a scholar of Cheyenne art and culture, who served Chicago’s Indigenous communities.

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