Native American Parfleche: A Tradition of Abstract Painting [SOLD]

From the Text:  A persistent symbol of Plains Indian culture has been the feathered war bonnet, a stirring, spectacular image reflecting the spirit and pride of these Native Americans and evoking the heroic stance taken by these tribes in the face of European confrontation. Perhaps a more characteristic symbol would be parfleche, the painted rawhide containers which were integral to their nomadic way of life. These containers not only served a practical necessity in the transportation and storage of each family's food and material possessions, but they also filled these people's lives with the splendor of beautifully painted abstract images which were charged with symbolic and associative meanings. These images were ever present. During the movement of camp, pack horses and travoises would be heavily laden with parfleche, their painted surfaces transforming the long procession into a collective image of elegant design and brilliant color Many early observers have written that a Plains camp on the move was a spectacular and unforgettable sight. After the tipi was erected, parfleches were hung or placed inside creating a similar effect to the traveling camp, but on a more intimate scale. Even in the dim firelight of the evening lodge, the strongly contrasting designs must have endowed a family's environment with beauty and familiarity It is, perhaps, for all of these reasons that during early reservation times, older Indians invariably associated the parfleche with the richness and integrity of the old way of life. For many years after tribes were permanently settled and parfleches were no longer needed, they were still highly valued as an aesthetic form. They were regarded as one of the most appropriate gifts and parade items, and they continued to be made for this purpose.

Parfleches are containers of folded or sewn rawhide which were usually elaborated with painted designs on their exposed surfaces. The name is derived from the French term, "parer un fleche," originally referring to the use of heavy rawhide in war shields. French traders used the term "parfleche" to describe any object constructed of rawhide and also to refer to the untanned skin itself, and this usage has become the accepted designation. The individual tribes never adopted the term, however for each had names within their own language for rawhide and the various containers.