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detached portion of Walpi cut off by a 
small ravine. It is in this small de- 
tached group of houses that the visitor 
stands. He looks out across the roof 
of the first tier of houses just as he would 
from the doorway of a second tier house, 
past an angling portion of the same tier 
across the valley, or arroyo, into Walpi. 
Immediately before him, as if he were 
in their midst, are representative Hopi 
people pursuing the routine of their daily 
toil. Thus, in the group as a whole, we 
get a veritable snapshot of Hopi life, 
precisely what one might see in a glance 
through a village. It was not designed 
to force into the composition many 
phases of life not usually seen in juxta- 
position, but to present one of the com- 
monest scenes of prosaic life. It was 
not our aim to instruct the visitor in 
details, such as how cloth is made, how 
houses are built, the whole life history of 
a clay pot from the grinding of the clay 
to the firing, and the like — all subjects 
far better treated in the exhibition cases 
of the hall — but to give a concrete idea 
of Hopi life in its native setting. Ina 
way, the production is a human habitat 
group, analogous to bird and mammal 
habitat groups. 
In composition the artists have pro- 
jected the group as a whole. To this 
end the objects in the foreground are 
adjusted to the same perspective lines as 
the canvas. Had the primary aim been 
to show a Hopi house, it would have been 
constructed on its own lines, but since 
the purpose of this group was to show a 
cross-section of Hopiland, the unity of 
the whole was sought in one perspective. 
This unity of perspective between the 
foreground and the canvas is designed to 
carry the eye over from the real objects 
in the foreground to the canvas in the 
distance, to the end that one may feel 
the great open landscape of the Hopi 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Indian’s habitat. In this particular 
the artists have been successful. The 
specimens in the Hopi cases adjoining the 
group and the illustrations in books give 
a wealth of detail as to the multiplicity 
of pueblo life, but they cannot in any- 
way take the place of a visit to Walpi 
where one may see things in their per- 
spective and native color. The very 
highest praise that could be bestowed 
upon this group was a remark by a 
visitor, “It is almost as good as a trip to 
Hopiland.” This was the ideal of its 
construction. 
The success of this group has been 
sufficient warrant for proceeding with a 
second At the outset it was 
planned to have three large Southwest- 
ern groups to which the architecture of 
the hall readily lends itself. In the 
center where the Navajo hogan now 
stands is to be one for the Navajo, show- 
ing a typical habitation, a family at its 
one. 
daily routine, and the landscape setting; 
while within the hogan, visible through 
the open door, a ceremony with its 
beautiful sand painting. On the left is 
the Hopi group now in place and on the 
right the Apache group now under 
construction. Mr. McCormick has the 
canvas background mounted and _al- 
most entirely painted in. Work upon 
the foreground and the reproduction 
of an Apache grass-covered shelter are 
under way. Mr. Young is now among 
the Apache in New Mexico modeling 
the human figures. 
The general plan of the Apache group: 
is the same as for the Hopi, a dwelling 
with family group in the foreground 
and the panorama of the landscape 
beyond. A definite spot on one of the 
Apache reservations was. chosen for 
reproduction here so that the finished 
group will present with fidelity a sample 
of this tribe’s original habitat. 
