The Kennedy Collection of Navajo Textiles Exhibition Review by Pat McGuire White Yei by Vera Begay, c. 1954. The Yei are holy people in Navajo myth. In some ceremonies they are impersonated by dancers.

One of the great private collection of Navajo textiles is going to become available for public viewing and scholarly research in the next year or two: the Southwest Native American Collection of Edwin L. and Ruth E. Kennedy. A uniquely comprehensive collection of Navajo art which contains hundreds of Navajo textiles and a very large assortment of jewelry and silverware by Navajo and Pueblo craftsmen, it has been placed on permanent loan to Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, Kennedy's alma mater. When a $4 million renovation is completed, probably some time in 1992, the collection will be housed in an imposing building which was once the old Athens post office and will become the new University Art Museum. To the surprise of many, Athens, Ohio, is to become an important center for the study of a Native American art form which has lately come into its own.

Noted textile scholar, Joe Ben Wheat, anthropologist, curator emeritus of the University of Colorado Museum, who has done analyses of many of Kennedy's weavings, considers the collection an extremely valuable resource because of its depth, range, and balance. Excellent examples of early historic pieces and some extraordinary 1880s weavings distinguish it, but its all-embracing contemporary section is truly unique.

Edwin L. Kennedy possesses the attributes of a great art collector: an eye for beauty, far-ranging intellectual curiosity, patience, and the requisite financial resources. While traveling throughout the Southwest in the early 1950s in the course of his work in the investment banking business, he saw his first Navajo rug and was promptly caught up in what was to be, and still is, the all-consuming interest of his life. During a chance stop on the Arizona-New Mexico border at the little Red Rock Trading Post which had the owner's name, "Kennedy," in large letters across its front, he was attracted by a white Yei with colorful figures woven into it. He bought it for $100 and began a lifelong relationship with the trader, Troy Kennedy (no relation). At first he bought rugs and jewelry for himself and his wife and daughters but before long he conceived a greater purpose.

After starting life as a poor farm boy whose struggle to stay in Ohio University was aided by a $50 loan from a philanthropic fund, he entered upon a successful business career which culminated in a position as senior partner of Lehman Brothers in New York. Determined to repay society for the help he had received and setting great value on education, he arrived at the concept of helping to establish a museum and research center where many people could enjoy, appreciate, and study the artifacts of a vanishing Native American culture. With this goal in mind, he chose weaving and included pieces illustrating all periods and types.

Coyote Way by Anna Mae Tanner, c. 1970. This design shows four directions. The trapezoids are the homes of the coyotes who call for rain. The butterflies are at the end of pollen pathways leading to the water in the center.

As is the case with all genuine art, Navajo textile design reflects the turbulent experiences of the Dine or people (their term for themselves). Three strong external influences affected them in turn: Pueblo, Hispanic, and Anglo-American. With the remarkable creative energy that is characteristic of the tribe, the weavers borrowed, adapted, and translated what they saw into striking forms which were not mere copies but completely original Navajo statements.

Most collectors have sought earlier textiles, feeling that age and rarity are the most important factors; a few have specialized in the work of present day weavers. A single balanced assortment containing all periods, techniques, materials, and styles is uncommon. Not everyone is aware that, fine as it was, Classic weaving in the 1850s did not represent the absolute peak of the art. A small number of top weavers, generally older women, has been producing fiber art of incredibly high quality since the 1960s.

With the explosion of interest in and demand for Navajo weaving that took place in the 1970s, prices went up. The encouragement of better pay and public recognition spurred weavers on to reach new heights of achievement in fine tapestries and handsome rugs. According to author Frederick Dockstader in =ft.2Song of the Loom: New Traditions in Navajo Weaving, =ft.1his catalog of an exhibit of part of Kennedy's Collection curated by Dockstader, when some of the women were asked in biographical questionnaires about their primary motivation in accomplishing such extremely fine work, many of them replied that "more money" was what did it. This is hardly a surprising answer from intensely practical people who have had so little cash reward for their work in the past.

The United States has experienced a sort of turning inward in recent years, expressed by a growing interest in American art forms. Phenomena such as the "country" fad, 19th century American painting, and now the latest rage, the so- called "Santa Fe look" with its emphasis on Southwestern Native American art, suggest an awakening appreciation of our own culture and history. Although discerning early collectors -- whose numbers include such diverse characters as Ute Indian chiefs, General William Tecumseh Sherman, and William Randolph Hearst -- sought fine Navajo blankets early on, it was not until the 1970s that a larger public became aware of their value. =ft.2The Wall Street Journal =ft.1printed an article on Navajo textiles' potential as an investment, and helicopters started landing on the reservation carrying sharp-eyed buyers. The race was on.

The supply of fine quality weaving has never been large; only a small percentage of the women reached great heights of artistry. By starting in the 1950s, Kennedy gained a head start in acquiring the best textiles and achieving a balanced selection before competition became intense. Because of its huge size, even he has never seen the entire assemblage displayed at one time although parts of it have been shown without identifying the owner. A selection of historic textiles curated by Tyrone Campbell, was shown at Rutgers in 1986 and "The Song of the Loom: New Traditions in Navajo Weaving," organized from the Kennedy Collection by the Montclair Art Museum, was exhibited at The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., as the property of a private collector. The catalog by Frederick Dockstader contains many fine color illustrations. Thirty- one are of sand painting textiles.

Although Kennedy says that his favorite rug in the collection is "the last one I looked at," he takes great pride in his complete sets of Chant Weaves, woven copies of paintings in sand traditionally created in the course of healing ceremonies. He feels that these are the unique feature of the collection.

Through purchases and commissions, Kennedy accumulated eight of these woven chantway sets, the only such extensive collection known to exist today. Two of these sets were previously given to the Maxwell Museum of the University of New Mexico and six complete Chants are in the present collection. A recent exhibit at Ohio University was highlighted by the first public display of the nine textiles of the Bead Chant which Kennedy, working through Troy Kennedy, had commissioned Despah Nez and her daughters, Anna Mae Tanner and Alberta Thomas of Oak Springs, Arizona, to weave. The nine large wall hangings in the Bead Chant show a high degree of artistry. In addition, important visual images from a traditional ceremony have been preserved.

Some of Kennedy's earlier contemporary weavings are by unknown weavers but "big name" weavers abound among the later ones: Julia Jumbo, Virginia Deal, Priscilla Taugelchee (Two Grey Hills), Philomena Yazzie, Maggie Price (Burntwater), Suzie Black, Laura Nez (Pictorial), Marie Begay, Mary Smith, Cecelia Joe (Raised Outline), Rose Dan, Angie Maloney (Storm Pattern), Bessie George, Betty Roan (Wide Ruins), and numerous others. Photos and brief biographical sketches of some of these women in =ft.2Song of the Loom =ft.1reflect a welcome trend away from the unsung, anonymous artistry of the past.

Kennedy feels strongly that with Navajo textiles, as with any work of art, his reaction on "the first look" is the most important determining factor; after that he considers technical perfection, style, and all the other things that enter into a buyer's decision. From the beginning, he was drawn to the colorful figures and symbols by which ceremonial scenes are shown in weaving.

In a preliminary exhibition at Ohio University in October 1990, part of the collection was hung in the Trisolini Gallery, offering a taste of the riches to come later. On one wall of the gallery hung the splendid series of nine large weavings of the Bead Chant; across the room from them in a central position was a small white Yei by Vera Begay, Edwin Kennedy's first purchase. Kennedy had known what he liked from the beginning: figurative images derived from sand paintings, good craftsmanship, dealers he could trust and with whom he could build strong relationships, and a deep admiration for the philosophy, life style and artistic ability of a Native American culture so different from his life experience. He has now made it possible for many others to explore, through their art, the very different view of life and the world around them held by the Navajo people.