The magnificent doll is wearing a dress of coarse wool decorated with rows of elk teeth; a knife on the belt, and a cradle with pearl embroidering.

The Plain women were particularly skilled in the preparation of the animal skins for the manufacturing of many domestic objects, dresses and tepee coverings.  A characteristic aspect was established by the emphasis placed on the interrelation between ceremonies, customs, ornaments and songs.

An organismic concept of the world in which each thing was chained to a complex scheme of mythology and ritual.

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PART OF THE MOSAIC PORTRAYING THE EMPRESS THEODORA AND HER COURT”) – 546-548 – CHIESA DI S. VITALE, RAVENNA

The clothing of Empress Theodora’s ladies testify to the pomp of the Byzantine court.

Silk fabrics worked in gold can be seen on the closed mantles, as well as various fabrics draped on the arms; the second lady has a tunic embroidered with pearl motifs.

Rich jewelled headdresses, pearl pendant earrings, manaikion-type necklaces, that is, sewn into the fabric, and the fourth lady has a fringed rectangle kerchief in her hand.

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Reproduced here are some of the objects gathered by Ethnologist A.L. Kroeber in Oklahoma and Wyoming in 1899 and in 1900.  They are mainly typical artefacts made and used by the Arapahos in the 20^th century.  Very few are produced still today.  The meaning behind the drawings was explained to Kroeber by the original owners of the objects, as well as by those who made them. Before now, they had never been a part of these splendid artefacts.

Indian name of the Arapaho tribe: Kananavich=People of the bison path.

They are one of the tribes of the plain divided dividing north and south whose language is Algonquian with slightly varying dialect inflections which have survived until today

As the name even states, they were specialised in bison hunting that they accomplished with particular techniques, influenced then by the introduction of the use of the horse, which, without a doubt, facilitated this characteristic of theirs.

A nomadic people who, for long periods of time, were closely tied to other tribes: the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Black Foot tribes also had the same characteristics.

They surrendered a part of the territory in 1865 to the government of the United States and were forced onto “reservations” which in time were progressively reduced, giving place to the “white man”, introducing debatable re-interpretations of the stipulated treaties.  Now their successors live on “reservations” between Oklahoma and Wyoming.

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The tiepin is on of the few pieces of jewelry that a man can wear, but it use diminished with the decline of the Ascot. 

It’s a shame because they were made with the most varied materials: from coral to pearl, diamonds and precious gems. 

The head of the pin may be decorated with the widest range of patterns, from hunting to Masonic themes, equestrian and martial.

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6^TH CENTURY MOSAIC – CHIESA DI SANT’APOLLINARE NUOVO, RAVENNA

Wonderful example of 6^th century feminine fashion: the tunic is enriched by the central patagium; the dalmatic  of a most rich, austere fabric, with its oblique lower line which breaks up the garment’s monotonous symmetry – an interesting attempt to differentiate between feminine and masculine clothing.

The ornate, jewelled neckline resembles the maniakion: belts and small crowns held in the hands are also jewelled: the large, white veil is solemnly fringed and decorated with gold.

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Jacob Hashimoto is a poet of the air, an artist playing a game or perhaps dancing, with the light, with the atmosphere and with the wind.

His light and flying installations, from their very structure (made of paper and bamboo) which trace that of kites, are a party for the eyes, an unexpected snowfall, an dreamy emotion for our senses.

Each one of his works, those created to be hung on walls as well as the environmental ones, is made of an random number of paper rings made one by one, at times painted with geometric patterns but more often left white, then hung  together in the undulated weave of hundreds of nylon threads.

This extraordinary, young American artist seems to hold on to a tight connection with the Japanese aesthetics of his family origins, but in recent years has cultivated a privileged relationship with Italy as well, setting up a studio in Verona.

Further, from June 1^st through August it will be possible to visit his installation entitled “Silence Still Governs Our Consciousness” at the MACRO – Rome’s museum of contemporary art.

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The Prinzhorn collection is today a very beautiful and unique German museum in the city of Heidelberg, which voluntarily contributes its works to travelling exhibitions world-wide.  It owes itself to the psychiatrist and art-lover Hans Prinzhorn, who, in the early 1900s constituted a pioneering collection of so-called “irregular” art, produced by patients who were hospitalised for mental illnesses.

But he didn’t stop at plumbing the depths of Germany and with the collaboration of foreign colleagues, was able to recover hundreds of works even in European hospitals.

The wealth of themes, inventions, original techniques of those authors, who often use of reclaimed materials or those of the hospital, is surprising and displays no signs of being inferior to official artistic panorama.

One in particular is the amazing and mysterious jacket by a woman named Agnes Richter, dating back to the end of the 1800s it is made of the grey cloth from a mental institution patient’s uniform.  This splendid artefact which was used also as a source of inspiration for theatrical performances in Germany, has the unique and fascinating characteristic of being a sewn diary, an autobiographical testimony of a mentally ill person who transcribed her feelings and fears with needle and thread into a thick constellation of lines and characters which cover the garment’s entire surface.

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An Aleutian painted by Louis Choris (1816-1817).  Wearing a shirt of intestine- with a hood and a hat with a painted visor made of thin, bent wood to give it shape -  sown at the back to achieve a plunging neckline.

The Aleutians occupied the chain of islands that form the bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Devoted to hunting and fishing, their particular kayaks – used even for whale fishing – are famous.

In the second half of the 18^th century, the eastern Aleutians were brutally defeated by the Russians and forced to hunt on their behalf.

Once Alaska was sold to the United States, otter and seal hunting increased.

Fish canning industries and whale fishing stations have been established on the Aleutian Islands since the second half of the 18^th century.

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Certain shirts have tabs that join the wings of the collar, normally by a button, whose function is to keep the tie knot lifted.

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EUFRASIO THE BISHOP, CLAUDIO THE ARCHDEACON AND HIS YOUNG SON” – 6^TH CENTURY MOSAIC – BASILICA, PARENZO (ISTRIA).

The archdeacon is wearing the white dalmatic (tunic) decorated with red stripes running from the shoulders to the feet, and around the bottom of the sleeve, emphasising its amplitude; the baby has a hooded cape which is open at the front; the Bishop Eufrasio is surrounded by the closed planet which he wears draped from his arms.

St. Mauro has a wide cape draping over his tunic which resembles the classic pallium, preferred by philosophers and thereby Christians in sacred figures.

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