October 21st, 2021 - Hail to the Chief: Navajo Chief’s Blankets 1860-1930

In the 19th century, a new style of wearing blanket began to be woven by Navajo weavers. Characterized by broad horizontal bands, and initially made in brown, white and blue, these blankets were meant to be worn. Weavers began adapting and adding variations to the design, raveling imported trade blankets and weaving red wool into squares and diamonds, all the while considering how the blankets draped around the human form.

They became known as Chief’s blankets due to their popularity among neighboring Plains tribes and were valued as the finest blankets in the world, the weave so fine as to be practically impermeable. Treasured by peoples living their life on horseback, they were a luxury item, a symbol of wealth and status among Native and non-Native peoples alike.

This collection features seventy years worth of weaving, and illustrates that while the first blankets were markers of a moment in time, these styles and phases continued to be woven through the twentieth century and into the present day.