Abstract
Statement of Problem
Native American ethnographic objects collected by anthropologists from 1840 to 1930 typically excluded the ''tourist art" that was also collected during the same period. Anthropologists wanted objects made before or at contact with Westerners, "authentic" objects they felt were not "contaminated" by contact or market demands. Therefore, anthropologists rejected the art made for tourists during the same period, which provides important historical and cultural information. Occasionally some tourist art was donated or sold to museums, but for the most part, institutional collections lack these representative objects and more research is needed.
Sources of Data
The objects from Jim and Kitten Sornberger's collection of Native American Art were the most important source of data for this project. In order to identify and contextualize the objects in the collection, research was conducted utilizing exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, identification guides, online art galleries and vintage trading post catalogs. Contemporary scholarly works, as well as nineteenth century works, provided an understanding of the changes that occurred in the Native American art market during this period. Interviews with collectors also provided vital information to the provenance of the pieces, as well as their insight into the Native American art market in which they made, sold, and purchased objects.
Conclusions Reached
The Art of Collecting: Native American Market in the 1970s exhibition and catalog features the rank-and-file collection of Jim and Kitten Sornberger, which consists of pieces dating from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. The bulk of the collection was amassed in the 1970s, a period that marks the redefinition of Native American objects from ethnographic artifacts and tourist art into fine art. In addition to collecting, Jim Sornberger was also making and selling Native American art during this period of change in the market. The scope of the collection combined with the Sornberger's involvement in the Native American market, documents the market before, during, and
after the shift to fine art. Collections such as the Sornberger's, which contain classic 'tourist" art as well as "museum quality" pieces, encapsulate the historical trajectory of Native American art in Western culture.