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Sioux Moccasin, beaded
Sioux Moccasin, beaded
Sioux Moccasin, beaded
This pair of beaded buckskin moccasins adorned with images of American flags and crosses, both geometric and Roman, are a part of the collection donated by The Engel family. They can be dated to the late 19th early 20th century and are now at the Pomona College Museum of Art. Based on the construction and style they were probably made by the Sioux tribe in the plains region.
Catalog card attributes locality to Sioux
Based on museum documentation and individual research.
Read More About This Relative
Buckskin, copper tin cones, glass beads,
Stiff soles with completely beaded uppers. Sewn together where the sole meets the upper and at the heel. Beading was most likely done using, "the lazy stitch."
American Flags, Roman crosses, geometric crosses, pyramidal shapes, geometric diamond border.
The beaded flags on the moccasins, although not exact replicas, are recognizably American. The crosses are both geometric and Roman representing a hybrid of Native and European cultures.
This pair of buckskin moccasins would have reached just below the wearer’s ankle and a tongue-type flap rests over the top of the moccasins mimicking the triangle shapes that are found elsewhere on the design. The moccasins are almost completely covered in straight lines of pristine bead work. The beads are primarily a sky blue color interrupted only for three triangles on each shoe, which support either an American flag or a cross. Around the border of the moccasins there is a diamond shaped pattern bracketed by blue, green, and red lines of bead work in a geometric pattern. The focal point of the shoes are the large crosses that seem to grow out of a triangle design and face the wearer and the two outward facing flags on each shoe creating a sort of pyramidal design of American and religious iconography.
Moccasins with similar iconography have been documented as being produced between the late 19th and early 20th century by Toby Herbst and Joel Kopp in their 1993 exhibition, "The Flag in American Art."
Provenance
In the collection of the Pomona College Museum of Art
"Ways of Seeing/Exhibiting American Indian Art: The Pomona College Collection," Montgomery Gallery, 1/19-3/20/94.
About This GRASAC Record
This item can be sited by catalog number and institution.
Created as an assignment in ARHIS139 Seminar in Native American Arts Spring 2012 at Pitzer College.
46.2, -90.9
Catalog card attributes culture to Plains.