Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Indian Detour
John Sloan’s print references bus tours organized by the Fred Harvey Company in 1926 that transported tourists from the hotels along the Santa Fe Railway to remote Indian reservations. A growing number of Americans wanted to experience authentic Native American culture, as it was considered to be vanishing. On these “detours,” it was customary for the Pueblos to perform a portion of a ceremonial dance for the tourists. Sloan, who had established a summer home in Santa Fe in 1920, found these bus tours such gawking intrusions into sacred Native American rituals that he lampooned them in this etching.
ArtistJohn Sloan, 1871–1951
Date1927
MediumEtching
Dimensions6 x 7 1/4 in. (15.2 x 18.4 cm)
Signedl.r., in plate: John Sloan, '27
l.r., in pencil: John Sloan
Inscription(s)recto, l.l., in pencil: 100 proofs
recto, l.c., in pencil: Indian Detour
recto, l.r., in pencil: M 231
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2013.25
ClassificationPrint
Provenanceto Estate of the Artist, 1951; to Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE; to (Kraushaar Galleries, New York, NY), 2013; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR 2013
On ViewNo
This artwork's face covers about 6.0× the area of a tennis ball.Drawn to the same scale.