Style: Transitional Rugs 1870-1900
Time changes life for everyone, and that’s especially true for the Navajo. During the last part of 19th century, trading posts opened up and traditional life for the Navajo began to evolve rapidly; especially when it came to Navajo weavers. It was with the changes to wool, newly available dyes, and the transition from wearing blankets to floor rugs; that gave way to this “transitional” period and thus, Transitional Rugs were born.
History of Transitional Rugs and Blankets
It began in the late 1870s that “transitional”, also referred as “late classic,” began to give way to the transitional blanket. And within a decade, the Transitional Rug began to copy those elements and share in their colors and designs. Larger and heavier than their counterparts, bordered Transitional Rug weavings began to evolve and the old classic banded-style of wearing blankets were nearly phased out altogether by the early 1900s.
Transitional rugs, though not as distinct in style or flair as their counterparts, played a major milestone in Navajo weaving styles.
