Rug Merchants

Description

Rug Merchants

Minerva Teichert, 1935

Growing up in Idaho, near the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, Minerva Teichert developed a life-long interest in Indigenous peoples. Teichert depicted scenes of Native American life with a respectful and idealized lens, almost nostalgically frozen in the historical past. Here, as the Indigenous weavers present their fine textiles, a kneeling trapper—a character from the early nineteenth-century fur trade—examines the rugs and baskets for sale.

Teichert longed for a pristine native past. Minerva wrote that in creating this piece she was inspired by the beautiful artistry of historic Native American rugs, which she had seen in a friend’s collection: “This friend …knows the West very well and bought these rugs or blankets long ago when she had many excellent things to choose from. I have seen such scenes before the Navajos had been exploited to such an extent. It is a Gay Bazaar in the desert.” The rug placed adjacent to this painting is an example of fine Navajo craftsmanship and the role of both commerce and tourism in popularizing such rugs. (Treasures from the Collection 8/17/2020 – 7/3/2021)

What’s Going On?

A group of Native Americans, one male figure and three female figures, weaving and displaying rugs are the central image of the work.  A female figure, to the left, and the male figure, on the right, each stand with arms extended holding a rug for display.  Behind them, a second female figure is in the process of weaving a rug.  In front of them, at their feet, the third female figure sits on a rug and appears to be weaving a basket.  Three additional male figures, dressed in western attire, frame the central tableau.  On the left a man stands holding the reigns of a horse and a man kneels at his feet.  On the right a man stands with two dogs at his feet.  The background is foliage.

More About Teichert

The works of western American artist, Minerva Teichert, have received increasingly popular and critical acclaim in recent years. Today, the LDS community loves Teichert. She is a woman who successfully combined both faith and family and left an extraordinary legacy of artistic production.

Minerva Kohlhepp was born in North Ogden, but grew up homestead farming in the vicinity of American Falls, Idaho. Her father encouraged her childhood sketching. Soon, she developed an “indomitable will to succeed and excel in the field of art.” She taught school to raise enough money to go to Chicago for her art studies.

She attended the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League of New York in the early 1900s. There, mural paintings and theatrical pageants were dynamic components of American popular culture. Teichert embraced these art forms. Following the admonition of her art teacher – the American realist painter Robert Henri – she used the visual language these murals provided to tell the narrative of her religious heritage as well as that of the American West.

Rug Merchants is part of the Pageants in Paint exhibition.