Tanner's Indian Arts, Gallup: History, Smiths & Mark

Tanner's Indian Arts is a Gallup, New Mexico trading company whose owner, Joe E. Tanner, "provided high-grade turquoise to silversmiths and inlay artists from late 1960s to 1980s" (Hougart 2022, p. 370). It supplied the stone and employed the smiths; the smiths made the jewelry. As of 2021, Philip Chambless and Mike Ryan, in Turquoise in America, counted it among the traders who "continue the tradition" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 187).

Founding

Our sources don't record the year Tanner's Indian Arts opened. Margery Bedinger's 1973 survey of Navajo and Pueblo silver reported that "Tanner's Indian Arts and Crafts Center in Gallup employs skillful craftsmen" (Bedinger 1973, p. 200). Hougart places Preston Monongye there before he moved to Phoenix in 1972 (Hougart 2022, p. 213).

The family's trading roots run older, and they come to us through Joe E. Tanner himself. According to Joe E. Tanner, his grandfather Joseph Baldwin Tanner and great-grandfather Seth Tanner "mined and also set up several Indian trading posts" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). Seth Tanner was "an early pioneer of the Arizona Territory that Brigham Young sent to settle in northern Arizona" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). Joseph Baldwin Tanner "spoke Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and Tewa and was a close friend to Chee Dodge, the first tribal president after the Navajo reorganized their tribal governance" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185).

By his grandson's account, Joseph Baldwin Tanner mined turquoise and brought stone and silver to Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Santo Domingo bead and jewelry makers. "They kept half the finished goods and Joe took half, though he often tried to buy from the Indians" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). He worked a claim at Courtland, Arizona, which family memory called the "Tanner Tunnel," and "in turn leased his claim at Courtland to C.G. Wallace, probably in the early 1930s" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185); see C. G. Wallace Trading Post. In Joe E. Tanner's opinion, his grandfather "was instrumental in the marriage of turquoise and silver in early Native American jewelry" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). That is family judgment, and we give it as his.

People

Joe E. Tanner owned the shop (Hougart 2022, p. 370). Hougart's source for the shop entry was "Emerald Tanner, personal communication 2017" (Hougart 2022, p. 370, fn. 69).

The smiths are the real record. Hougart documents a long bench:

  • Preston Monongye "worked for Tanner's Indian Arts and Crafts Center in Gallup before moving to Phoenix in 1972" (Hougart 2022, p. 213).
  • Jimmy Harrison did "some inlay collaboration with Monongye in the early 1980s while working at Joe Tanner's shop" (Hougart 2022, p. 135).
  • Mary Marie Yazzie worked for Joe Tanner and did inlay on Monongye castings (Hougart 2022, p. 346).
  • Chester Kahn "Studied with Charles Loloma; worked with Joe Tanner" (Hougart 2022, p. 166).
  • Katherine Wilson "also worked for Tanner's Indian Arts" (Hougart 2020, p. 104).
  • David Tsikewa "worked for several shops and traders, including C.G. Wallace, the Kelsey Indian Trading Company, John J. Kirk Jr, and Joe Tanner" (Hougart 2020, p. 96).

Two artists left their own accounts. Lee Weebothee recalled: "One day Joe Tanner [a well-known Gallup trader] came by the house with some very nice turquoise. He said, Mary, I want you to pick out something and make something real good, and if I sell it we will go into business" … "So we just started cluster" (Bahti 2007, pp. 198–199). Hougart confirms that Lee and Mary Weebothee "both worked for Gallup, New Mexico - based trader, Joe Tanner" (Hougart 2020, p. 103). Gibson Nez learned of his 1979 Arizona Highways feature this way: "I went by Joe Tanner's store, and he showed me the issue. That was the first I know of it" (Bahti 2007, p. 128).

Marks and what to look for

Hougart records the shop's mark as "A Human figure (usually accompanied by silversmith marks)" (Hougart 2022, p. 370). Read it as a seller's mark: it names Tanner's, not the maker. The maker is whoever's hallmark sits beside it. William T. Johnson's work, marked W. JOHNSON, was "sometimes marked for Tanner's Indian Arts" (Hougart 2022, p. 162). Our sources give no dates of use for the figure mark.

A "Courtesy of Tanner's Indian Arts" credit in a book means the piece was lent from Tanner's stock, not made by Tanner's. Oscar Branson's 1975 turquoise book credits several, among them a bracelet combining "designer-silversmith Preston Monongye and the lapidary art of Lee A. Yazzie" (Branson 1975, p. 7); see Lee A. Yazzie. Theda Bassman's Hopi book credits Monongye bracelets to the shop (Bassman 1993, p. 11), and her Navajo survey draws many plates from Tanner's, including bracelets "All from the 1920's. Artists unknown." (Bassman 1997, p. 10).

Legacy

The shop reached beyond Gallup's counters. Hougart cites a "Joe Tanner advertisement (1976 American Indian Art Magazine)" as a source for one family's mark attribution (Hougart 2022, p. 339, fn. 24). The Heard Museum's archive files a run of annual shows under the Tanner's name, among them "Tanner's Annual All Indian Invitational Jewelry Show" (Heard Museum 2024).

A note on names. Every book we hold places Tanner's Indian Arts in Gallup. The Heard Museum's archive also files Scottsdale, La Jolla and Wheat Ridge locations under the Tanner's name, in an entry that merges Joe E. Tanner with Rick W. Tanner (Heard Museum 2024). Two other Tanner businesses are separate: Ellis Tanner Trading Company, "Founded in 1967 in Gallup, New Mexico," and Don C. Tanner Old Pawn Indian Jewelry, "Opened in 1976 and located in Scottsdale, Arizona" (Heard Museum 2024).

From the Library: Ryan & Chambless, Turquoise in America Part Two: 1910–1990 (2020)

2020 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2020, not today.

These are outside observers' records of the trade; the Navajo (Diné), Zuni and other nations are the authority on their own history.

According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 106), as the Nevada turquoise market developed, Joseph Baldwin Tanner bought his own turquoise mine at Courtland, Arizona, to secure a reliable source of stone, and on November 15, 1937 he sold Aztec Claims 1 and 2 there to W. M. McDaniel. [10]

According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 108), the first Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial was held in August 1922, "with Mike Kirk spearheading the effort, supported by Joe Baldwin Tanner." [10] The same book dates the first Ceremonial to September 1922 on p. 46, and Baxter (2000, p. 60) gives September 28, 1922. [13] More on the event: the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial.

From the Library: Jacka, Navajo Jewelry: A Legacy of Silver and Stone (1995)

1995 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1995, not today.

Joe Tanner, who comes from a long line of traders, speaking to Jacka in 1995:

“We deal in a lot of pawn, and probably no more than 2 percent ever 'goes dead' [is sold for lack of payment to redeem].”
— Jacka (1995), p. 31 [11]

A note on accuracy. We strive for accuracy, and this page is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. Corrections welcome.

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From the Library: Schaaf, American Indian Jewelry I (2003)

2003 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2003, not today.

Schaaf (2003, p. 113) recorded the Navajo smith Joe Chee as working with Joe Tanner from 1970 to 1974, after twelve years with the Kirks. [12]

Schaaf (2003, p. 118) listed Tanner's Indian Art in Gallup among the galleries of Herman Coan, a Navajo maker of contemporary tufa-cast and sandcast silver with natural turquoise, active from the 1970s. [12]

Schaaf (2003, p. 174) listed Tanners Indian Arts in Gallup among the galleries of the Navajo jewelers George and Nusie Henry as of 2003. [12]

Schaaf (2003, p. 177) gave the Zuni inlay jeweler Lambert Homer, Jr., stone cutter for Preston Monongye in 1970, an affiliation with Joe Tanner of Gallup. [12]

Schaaf (2003) wrote of the Zuni jeweler Veronica Poblano:

“Successful trader Joe Tanner recognized her talent and encouraged her development.”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 259 [12]

Lee Weebothee told Schaaf (2003):

“In the late 1980s, Joe Tanner asked me to do an ironwood bowl”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 323 [12]

Lee Yazzie told Schaaf (2003, p. 330) that in 1968 he met the Gallup trader Joe Tanner, who introduced him to Preston Monongye and had him trained in turquoise cutting by Harold "Cal" Johnson; from 1970 he inlaid some of Monongye's tufacast pieces, which Tanner was buying. [12]

Sources

  1. Bahti, Mark. Silver + Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers. Rio Nuevo, 2007. pp. 128, 198–199.
  2. Bassman, Theda. The Beauty of Hopi Jewelry. Kiva, 1993. p. 11.
  3. Bassman, Theda. The Beauty of Navajo Jewelry. Kiva, 1997. p. 10.
  4. Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. University of New Mexico Press, 1973. p. 200.
  5. Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Treasure Chest, 1975. p. 7.
  6. Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One. Callais Press, 2021. pp. 185, 187.
  7. Heard Museum. Native American Artists Resource Collection (NAARC) thesaurus, 2024. Entries for Tanner's Indian Arts, Ellis Tanner Trading Company, Don C. Tanner Old Pawn Indian Jewelry.
  8. Hougart, Bille. 100 Collectible Native American Silversmiths and Their Hallmarks. TBR International, 2020. pp. 96, 103, 104.
  9. Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed., 2022. pp. 135, 162, 166, 213, 339 (fn. 24), 346, 370 (incl. fn. 69).
  10. Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
  11. Jacka, Lois Essary. Navajo Jewelry: A Legacy of Silver and Stone. Photographs by Jerry Jacka. Flagstaff: Northland Publishing, 1995. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1995.
  12. Schaaf, Gregory, with Angie Yan Schaaf. American Indian Jewelry I: 1,200 Artist Biographies, ca. 1800-present. American Indian Art Series, Vol. 5. Santa Fe: CIAC Press, 2003. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2003.
  13. Baxter, Paula A., with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry: A Guide to History, People, and Terms. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 2000. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2000.

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