Apache Cradleboard
Apache Cradleboard is a bronze sculpture created c. 1994 by Allan Houser. 15 casts were made.
Style
[edit]The form of the sculpture is in Houser’s signature style—a blend of modernist styles and Native American art and subject matter.[1] Houser’s figures are highly stylized and don’t represent any one particular person which allow them to represent Southwest and Plains Native American cultures as a whole.[1]
Themes
[edit]Mothers and children were one of Houser’s often repeated themes, and he regularly combined them into one form.[2] Family, pride and the history of his tribe, the Apaches, were innately combined for Houser.[3] This pride comes through the facial expressions of his subjects, especially the women.[4] Houser identified with women on a certain level; he stated that when he was creating his art he was “trying to feel like the mother” and be serene.[4] Kim Bourne, former CEO of Allan Houser Inc. said in an interview that “his themes are of nobility and the future and of the wonderful bond that his people on [sic] those stories that he’d heard [about the Apache].”[5] The cradleboard was a significant part of the cultures of tribes living in the southwest, particularly the Apache. Apache mothers would typically make their baby a cradleboard when he or she was a few months old.[6]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Rushing, “Essence and Existence in Allen Houser’s Modernism,” 88,92-94.
- ^ Momaday, “The Testament of Allan Houser,” 77.
- ^ KAET TV, Interview with Allan Houser, Allan Houser Apache Sculptor.
- ^ a b 14 Productions Six, Interview with Allan Houser, Unconquered Allan Houser and the legacy of one Apache Family.
- ^ 14 Productions Six, Interview with Kim Bourne, Unconquered Allan Houser and the legacy of one Apache Family.
- ^ Ferg and Kessel, “Subsistence,” 79.
References
[edit]14 Productions Six. Unconquered Allan Houser and The Legacy of One Apache Family. Florida State University Libraries Films on Demand video, 32:15. 2008. http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=43869
Ferg, Alan and Kessel, William. “Subsistence.” In Western Apache Material Culture: The Goodwin and Guenther Collections, edited by Alan Ferg, 49-86. University of Arizona Press, 1987.
KAET-TV. Allan Houser Apache Sculptor. Florida State University Libraries Films on Demand video, 30:04. 1976. http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=31997
Lowe, Truman. “The Emergence of Native Modernism.” In Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser, edited by Truman Lowe, 10-37. Seattle: University of Washington Press 2004.
Momaday, N. Scott. “The Testament of Allen Houser.” In Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser, edited by Truman Lowe, 66-77. Seattle: University of Washington Press 2004.
Rushing, W. Jackson. Allan Houser: An American Master (Chiricahua Apache, 1914-1994). Hary N. Abrams Inc., 2004.
Rushing, W. Jackson. “Essence and Existence in Allen Houser’s Modernism,” Third Text 11, no. 39 (Summer 1997):87-94
Tremblay, Gail. “Tracks Worth Following.” In Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser, edited by Truman Lowe, 78-103. Seattle: University of Washington Press 2004.