Day 276 - Child's moccasins

 December 16, 2021

I'm more energized on my return to Gallery 746, and perhaps less intimidated by the size of the space, now that I've divided it in two.  In 746 North, I'm amazed to sees some carvings from the Bering Straits area that date from 100-300 C.E. - less than a thousand years after humans crossed the land bridge from Asia; I didn't know that artifacts that old could be found in North America.  I learn that an 1865 congressional report estimated that  some 1,500-3000  Navajo were enslaved by Hispanic Americans in the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico. And I note that the captions do not whitewash the intertribal warfare that existed. A  couple of watercolor paintings depict fierce combat between Sioux and Crow warriors; one of the latter is surprisingly abstract,  reminding me of a Kandinsky. 

Today's object is a pair of  children's moccasins made in South Dakota between 1900 and 1920 of leather, antique glass beads, cotton, and thread. I particularly like the bright green of the shoes' vamps and soles and am surprised to see the lavish use of the American flag as a design motif. I read that flags meant different things to different artists, families, and tribes, including military service, special events, or the establishment of reservations.  Presumably, flags connoted good things for this child and for the women (I assume it was women) who made these moccasins. Above all, I'm impressed by the workmanship the moccasins display, the delicacy with which  thousands of tiny glass beads are strung together.  I wonder if the child who wore these moccasins was the son (or daughter?) of a tribal chief or another important figure. Whoever it was, the child must have been much loved to be the recipient of so fine a gift.