Picture Frame by Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

Picture Frame 1910

0:00

mixed-media, textile

mixed-media

textile

pattern background

wearable design

textile design

decorative-art

decorative art

indigenous-americas

Dimensions: 8 3/8 x 6 3/8 x 5/8 in. (21.27 x 16.19 x 1.59 cm) (without dangles or hanger)

This Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Picture Frame, made with beads and fabric sometime during the 20th century, presents such a tactile encounter! The beads, like tiny brushstrokes, create a shimmering surface. Each one is a little world. Look at how they build up the floral motifs. There’s a controlled chaos there, a structured exuberance. See how the light catches each bead, creating a living, breathing thing. The frame is soft pink fabric. There's so much labor evident in this piece. The floral shapes, are they a border or a garden? What do the beaded dangles suggest? The date "1916" is stitched in green and gold thread, like a secret code or forgotten message. It reminds me of work by contemporary artist, Joyce Kozloff. Her patterned, decorative surfaces completely embrace ambiguity. This frame is like that – a portal to multiple stories.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

⋮

As photography became more accessible in the late 1800's, picture frame whimsies became desirable items of home décor. Often beaded with three-dimensional flowers and other motifs, picture frames illustrate the broad pallet artists employed to make these pieces. They fashioned patterns for designs and passed their templates along to younger artists in the family. Younger women and girls first learned how to bead the looped fringe and would later bead entire whimsies. By creating them in this way, Iroquois women insured the survival and growth of their artistic traditions.