Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis

From the Jacket:

Hopi art is, perhaps, the oldest surviving artistic tradition in North America, yet it has unique importance in twentieth-century American art. Vital, colorful, and rooted in deep and abiding religious meaning, in ancient myths, and symbols that achieve a synthesis of past and present, Hopi art continues to have special value and power.

Better than any other tribe, the Hopis have managed to preserve their culture and to adapt it to the challenge of the white man. (Some petroglyphs and Kachina figures, though over two thousand years old, are entirely recognizable today.) In modern times, Hopi artists continue to synthesize tradition and innovation to create cultural milestones in art and thought.

In this handsome book, Mrs. Broder brings us to an understanding of the origins of traditional designs and symbols and shows us how these have been adapted to present-day needs. In chapters on their mesa world of stone and sunshine, Hopi ceremonies, and the importance of the Kachinas, we learn to appreciate these wonderful pictures, and to learn what they mean. Painting, pottery, craft designs, and the Hopis' responses to modern art are discussed. Included in Hopi Painting are the biographical sketches of some of today's leading Hopi artists.