These robes, spectacularly executed and perfectly conserved, offer an incomparable pictographic representation of early native American life.  As George P. Horse Capture observes in his essay on the craft and history of buffalo hide painting,we see the largely symbolic, complex geometric patterns painted by men, depicting battles and dances.  Both kinds of design played an important role in native American society as messages for tribe members, as well as for their visitors, and both share a powerful visual appeal.

With introductory and historical essays by three leading experts on native American art, a preface by W. Richard West, Jr., the director of the National Museum of the American Indians, and over a hundred photographs of the hides, this splendid volume is sure to be a treasure in any collection.

Geroge P. Horse Capture is Curator of the Plains Indian Museum, in Cody, Wyoming.  Anne Vitart is Curator at the Musée de l'Homme, in Paris.  Michel Waldberg is a writer and art critic living in Paris.  W. Richard West, Jr., is the Director of the National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington, D.C.