The 47th annual Whitehawk Show in Santa Fe features historic Indigenous art

The week before Southwestern Association for Indian Arts’ Santa Fe Indian Market — the world’s largest market for contemporary Indigenous art — you can catch some of the best historic Indigenous art at Whitehawk Antique Indian and Ethnographic Art Show.

Now in its 47th year, the Whitehawk show brings together more than 130 experts and thousands of historic objects by Native American and Canadian First Nations cultures, as well as ethnographic art from around the world. It runs from Friday, Aug. 8, through Monday, Aug. 11.

Kim Martindale, who produces Whitehawk, cofounded the show when he was only 16.

“I’m 62 now, so it’s been a few years,” he laughed.

“I’ve always been interested in Indigenous art. When I was 12, I started to buy and sell Indigenous art, especially American Indian textiles,” Martindale said. “My parents didn’t really understand my interest, but fortunately they were supportive.”

Martindale said Western art history has only recently started to recognize the importance of historic Indigenous art.

“If you look at Navajo weavings done between 1870 and 1900, there’s several weavings that I would put in the category of the first modern art (in terms of) color usage and bold design patterns. They were done in the time period before (Pablo) Picasso and (Georges) Braque,” Martindale said.

Both SWAIA’s Indian Market and the Whitehawk show attract collectors from around the country, with many attending both events.

“Most contemporary Indigenous artists are inspired by, and certainly draw from, the historic material,” Martindale said. “So, if you come for a week, you can see the best historic work, where a lot of these modern and contemporary artists, like Fritz Scholder and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, got their inspiration.”

This year’s Whitehawk show will feature educational exhibits, including one on Chimayó weavings and another on Hopi katsina figures (plural “katsinam”), which are sometimes called kachina dolls.

The katsina exhibition will be presented by Barry Walsh, a renowned katsina scholar.

“I avoid calling myself an expert, because I say the only experts regarding Hopi katsinam are Hopi. But I am a specialist, and I’ve concentrated on Hopi katsinam since the early ’90s,” Walsh said. “I make it explicitly clear I don’t talk or write about the religion. I talk about the art forms. And that’s a key distinction, because the Hopi take umbrage at outsiders talking about their religion.”

The details of Hopi ceremonies are known only to members of the Hopi community, which is what Walsh means when he says he doesn’t talk about Hopi religion. But many katsina collectors are drawn to the spiritual significance of the figures.

“I like the notion of living surrounded by artistically rendered spirit beings,” Walsh said. “And I think the same idea appeals to a lot of serious collectors.”

Walsh’s exhibit will feature a survey of katsinam from the 1880s to the present day, including some of the most famous carvers of all time.

“The first carver to become well known was Wilson Tawaquaptewa, and he had an interesting history,” Walsh said. “Because he was an important religious leader, he felt that accurate representations of katsinam shouldn’t be sold. So, he either mixed them up or made them up, and he never made an accurate representation of katsinam, which is largely unique in katsinam history.”

Many of the katsinam in Walsh’s exhibit will be for sale, with prices ranging from $80 to $29,000, depending on age and rarity.

John Krena, owner of Four Winds Gallery in Pittsburgh, has been exhibiting at Whitehawk since the early 1980s.

This year, he is bringing a collection of rare 19th and early 20th century necklaces, including one from the collection of Navajo leader Chee Dodge (1860–1947).

“I’ll also have a large selection of pottery by (Pueblo artist) Maria Martinez, some good Navajo weavings and early Pueblo paintings,” Krena said. “But I’m really known for jewelry, so I’ll bring a ton of really great early Navajo and Pueblo jewelry.”

Thomas Cleary is a private dealer based in Santa Fe.

“I specialize in exceptional material from the horse cultures of the Great Plains,” Cleary said.

“There’s a couple really cool pieces I’m excited about, particularly in the world of parfleche and beadwork,” Cleary said. “Parfleche are, in effect, rawhide containers that Plains Indians would paint with dramatic colors and designs and utilize as carrying cases.”

In addition to parfleche bags, Cleary will be offering a range of beaded items, including weaponry.

“For the most part, they’re utilitarian items that were lovingly decorated,” Cleary said.

Although the majority of vendors at Whitehawk specialize in Indigenous art from North America, Indigenous cultures from around the world will be represented, as well.

“We have an exhibitor from Australia who will be showcasing Aboriginal work,” Martindale said. “And then there’s some of the best people who deal in African and Oceanic material. There’s Himalayan masks. So, it’s really a world of ethnographic art.”

Martindale said the sheer quantity of rare Indigenous pieces available at Whitehawk is “actually misleading.”

“You may look at it and go, oh, I thought Navajo rugs from pre-World War II were pretty rare, but here’s like, 300 of them,” Martindale said. “But that’s probably almost all of them that are available in the world.”

“It’s such a unique moment that happens only once a year in August, and it’s in your backyard. So, take advantage of it,” Martindale said. “It’s like having the Super Bowl come to town. It’s the best of the best.”

The 47th annual Whitehawk Show in Santa Fe features historic Indigenous art