A Rare 19th and Early 20th-Century Collection of Navajo rug textiles

“Sacred Threads: The Art of the Navajo Rug”—Opens at the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Art + Design, August 30

A Special Opening Reception on Friday, August 30 Benefits Galena City Beautiful Foundation with Proceeds Earmarked for the Restoration and Preservation of Galena’s Historic Cemeteries.

Galena, Illinois (AUGUST 15, 2019) On August 30, 2019, The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Art + Design in Galena, Illinois opens “Sacred Threads: The Art of the Navajo Rug.”

Featuring dozens of rugs and textiles from the Museum’s extensive Native American Ethnographic Collections—many of which have never been publicly exhibited—the exhibition remains open through December 24, 2019.

Museum hours are Friday-Sunday, 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM. Admission is free to Museum Members and the public is encouraged to make a donation to support the Museum’s ongoing public education programs.

Navajo rugs and blankets (Navajo: diyugí) are textiles produced by Navajo people of the Southwestern United States. Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for over 150 years. Commercial production of hand-woven blankets and rugs has been an important element of the Navajo economy.

During the 19th-Century, the Native Americans of the Southwest used colorful handwoven wool textiles as clothing, cloaks, baby wraps, bedding, furnishings, saddle blankets, and trade goods.

This exhibition traces the history of the Navajo weaving tradition from the earliest Mexican-inspired Saltillo serapes, circa 1880, to early 20th-Century pictorial rugs.

The exhibition features examples of the Late Classic (1865-1880) and Transitional (1880-1895) periods of Navajo textiles.

Among the historic Navajo rug styles featured in the exhibition are Two Grey Hills, Ganado, Teec Nos Pos, Ye’ii, Pictorial, Wide Ruins, Storm, Sandpainting and Eyedazzler.

The most noteworthy are extraordinary examples woven of churro wool of textiles featuring bold stripes, center diamonds, whirling logs, lighning zig-zag terraced designed patterns.

Also, included in the show are elegant saddle blankets, much prized for their dignified, almost sparse design.

Many of the textiles are dyed with plants from the Navajo reservation and special emphasis will be given to the art of natural dyeing and the aesthetic impact of color. Motifs such as lightning lines and spider woman crosses are embedded in designs related to cultural stories about the making of the first loom and the beginning of weaving. The relationship to the landscape still influences many of the designs created by contemporary Navajo weavers.

Handspun, hand-carded Navajo rugs are unique because their warp (the vertical strings on a loom) is one, long continuous piece of wool thread. Once the warp is set on the loom, the size of the rug cannot be altered. This weaving method requires the weaver to plan the design and pattern of the rug to fit precisely into the predetermined length of the rug.

The ability to conceive and execute two-dimensional designs in extraordinary patterns and colors set Navajo weavers apart from the creators of other Native rugs and blankets.

Knowledge of this traditional process is an important cultural tradition that has been maintained through intergenerational instruction and mentoring despite the obstacles of displacement, discrimination, and isolation experienced by the Navajo Nation.

“This rare and extensive Navajo textile collection on exhibition illustrates the history of the weaving traditions and varied enough to demonstrate the artisanal skill of the weavers,” says Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, Museum President/CEO, The Chicago Athenaeum.

“In addition to the beauty, grace, and historical importance of the works presented in this show, they are prized because of the spiritual dimension they embody, their cultural significance, and the fact that they represent the most rare and beautiful specimens of Native American art in existence.”

“The stunning intricacy and technical quality embedded by the artists into their creations make Navajo weavings one of the world’s great, classic art forms.”

“Each textile is an extraordinary example of artistic genius, creativity, and technical execution, primarily a ‘women’s art,’ executed by thousands of anonymous Navajo women who have been thoroughly under-recognized and uncelebrated during the last two centuries.”

“The makers of these textiles created complex and exacting designs, sometimes with a whimsical twist.”

“These weaving achievements by women—bold and abstract and full of emotional and spiritual iconology—are really the first examples of Modern Abstract Art, years before Picasso and Matisse and the other renowned masters of the Modernist Movement.”

“Many modern artists, including two as diverse as Paul Klee and Roy Lichtenstein, have been influenced and inspired by Native American designs and motifs such as those included in this exhibition.”

“In other words, these Navajo Women were the first, original creators of what we now call ‘Modern Art’,” continues Narkiewicz-Laine.

The Navajo were first recognized as the finest weavers of small horse blankets, placed under saddles to protect the horse, after the Spanish introduced both sheep and horses to the American Southwest in the mid-1500s. Influenced by Pueblo weavers, the Navajo then made large blankets which were prized throughout the Southwest and across the Great Plains for their quality as outerwear. Later, trading post economics led to a transition to rug making, a tradition that remains strong today.

The items on display are from the collection of the late archaeologist Charlotte Narkiewicz-Laine (1922–2000) who began a lifelong pursuit of traveling across the United States, collecting Native American fine decorative art, jewelry, ancient artifacts, and textiles.

“Our Museum is indebted to the generosity of Mrs. Narkiewicz-Laine in donating this rare collection,” states Ioannis Karalias, Museum Vice President, the Chicago Athenaeum.

“Her collecting trips to the American Southwest in the early 1930s generated gifts that are the foundation of our ethnographic collections, in both quality and number. This collection demonstrates her passion and respect for all things Native American and help to frame her collecting strategies. We hope our guests find meaning in her dedication to identifying and preserving Native American traditions.”

On Friday, August 30, “Sacred Threads: The Art of the Navajo Rug” opens as a special Gala Reception to benefit Galena City Beautiful Foundation with proceeds to benefit the restoration and preservation of Galena Cemeteries led primarily by Dale Glick and his many volunteers who have heroically preserved an important piece of Galena’s rich history and heritage.

The event is sponsored by Starbucks, HyVee, and Morrisey Printers.

Tickets are $25.00 per person and are available by calling

The Chicago Athenaeum at +815/777-4444.

The exhibition, "Sacred Threads: The Art of the Navajo Rug"

continues at the Galena Museum through December 24.

For More Information, contact Jennifer Nyholm,

Director of Communications at +815/777-4444 or by

email at jennifer@chicagoathenaeum.org.