White Metal Universe: Navajo Silver from the Fred Harvey Collection is a 1981 exhibition catalogue from the Heard Museum in Phoenix, edited by Cynthia J. Davies. It draws on the legendary Fred Harvey Company collection, assembled through the railroad-era hospitality empire whose hotels, dining rooms, and "Indian Department" did so much to shape the market for Southwestern Native art. The catalogue documents Navajo (Diné) silverwork, squash-blossom necklaces and najas, concha and ketoh forms, stamped bracelets, tobacco canteens, and the turquoise-set pieces that defined the tradition.
What distinguishes the text is its insistence on treating Navajo silver as serious sculpture, comparing the abstract power of a squash-blossom necklace to the work of Henry Moore or Brancusi, while candidly discussing how tourist demand and motifs like the whirling-log shaped production. The black-and-white and color plates record specific pieces from the Fred Harvey collection.
Exhibition catalogue (1981)
A 1981 Heard Museum exhibition catalogue of Navajo silver from the Fred Harvey Collection.
| Author | The Heard Museum (Cynthia J. Davies, editor) |
| Publisher | The Heard Museum |
| Year | 1981 |
| Edition | Exhibition catalogue (1981) |
| Condition | Softcover exhibition catalogue, clean. |
| Topic | Navajo silver (Fred Harvey Collection) |
Photographs © New Mexico Literacy Project. Licensed under CC BY 4.0; reuse with attribution. This is an identification and provenance record of a real donation; no appraisal or valuation is offered.
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