Recent Acquisitions: Eastern Sioux (Dakota), vest, about 1885
Hood Quarterly, spring/summer 2009
Brian Kennedy, Director
Stephen A. Lister of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dartmouth Class of 1963, and a member of the Hood Museum of Art Board of Overseers, has recently donated an Eastern Sioux (Dakota) vest. Dating to about 1885 and made of tanned hide and cotton fabric, it is decorated with dyed porcupine quills and glass beads in an abstract floral pattern. Joe Horse Capture, guest co-curator of the Hood's upcoming exhibition of its Native American collection in 2010–11, explains that the Dakota tribe straddles two cultural regions, the Great Lakes/Woodlands and the Plains.
This vest, probably made from deer hide, is a good example of late-nineteenth-century work. The Great Lakes/Woodlands influence can be seen in the repeating floral designs shown on the front of the vest. The quilled line that travels around the edge toward the back has branchlike forms on which there is small, leaf-type imagery. The Plains aspects of this vest are the five-pointed stars and the color of the quills.
The Hood is most warmly appreciative to Mr. Lister, a collector of both Indonesian textiles (to be shown at the Hood this spring and summer) and Native American art, for his ongoing support.