Not Native American Art? Forgeries, Replicas, and Other Vexed Identities

In Native North American artistic traditions, what is a replica? What constitutes a copy? In contrast to the larger field of art history, there is almost no literature on forgeries and replicas in this subfield.

Janet Catherine Berlo will consider notions of replicas, copies, tributes, forgeries, pastiches, and even digital surrogates as they apply to archaeological, historical, and contemporary Native arts of North America. Berlo is professor emerita of art history and visual and cultural studies at the University of Rochester and her talk is adapted from the introduction to her recent book, Not Native American Art. The book will be on sale in the Museum Shop, and Berlo will be available to sign books immediately following the program.