Navajo Rugs

Jackson Clark, Sr., the founder of Toh-Atin Gallery, began trading in Navajo rugs in 1957. Toh-Atin is proud to have one of the finest selections of Navajo rugs and Navaho Art in the country. We at Toh-Atin believe that the Navajo weavers of today are among the most creative artists in the world. While we value, appreciate and proudly offer the fine work of weavers who wove the blankets and rugs of a century or more ago, we believe that the best pieces coming off Navajo Indian looms today are every bit their equal.

The Navajo loom is upright. The exact length and width must be planned as the ends are attached before any Indian rugs are made. The wool is washed, spun and, in some cases, dyed. The rug can take many weeks and, often, several months to complete. Navajo weaving is constantly changing; in the latter part of the 19th Century, white Traders influenced the patterns and sizes of Navajo rugs. Patterns and styles of weavings became identified with particular Trading Posts, i.e., Ganado, Teec Nos Pos, Two Grey Hills and Crystal.

However, recent trends in Navajo weaving emphasize the independence of the weaver. Prices have escalated over the years, partially due to increased demand and the fact that fewer Navajo women are taking up this fine art. Navajo Indian life has changed. Even though today's weavers are creating outstanding pieces, there is strong demand for older rugs. It is probably safe to assume that values will continue to increase, but this should not be used as the sole reason for purchasing a Navajo rug. A Navajo weaving should be purchased for enjoyment now, and in the future.

Please look through our web site selections and give us a call. Our associates are looking forward to answering your questions and finding the perfect weaving for you. Our inventory is constantly changing and not every weaving is featured on our site.

Care and hanging of your Navajo weaving

We will be happy to send a weaving to you "on approval." If you decide you do not like it, return it to us for a full refund of the purchase price.

For an article on the history of Navajo weaving, click here . 

For many years, regional weavings have continued to change and evolve, but still within the recognized regional guidelines. In the late 1970's, a group of five sisters from the Burnham area on the Navajo Nation began a new journey in the history of Navajo weaving. They began to combine patterns and designs from all of the weaving areas, along with pictorial elements and patterns of their own.

The Chinle area at the mouth of Canyon de Chelley has been the site of a number of trading posts, beginning with a tent in 1882, including J. L. Hubbell's "castle" in 1900, and finally settling with the Thunderbird Lodge.

The traders of the 1930's, Leon McSparron and his wife, experimented with vegetal dyes, which inspired the local weavers to revive the designs of the Classic Period of the early 1800's. Today, pastel commercial dyes are often used either solely or along with the natural vegetal dyes.

Licensed in 1896, J. B. Moore opened the Crystal Trading Post located on the west side of the Chuska Mountains. He originated designs (with Turkish and Mediterranean influence) that he thought would appeal to eastern buyers, improved the wool and encouraged quality weaving. In 1903 and 1911 he published mail-order catalogs, and soon his rugs were known all over the country.

One of the best known of Navajo rugs, the Ganado red style was originally created by Lorenzo Hubbell, perhaps the most well known of the Indian traders. The modern Ganado is still much like the original, consisting of centralized crosses or diamonds, often on a brilliant red background, although red on a gray background is often seen.

The Klagetoh style is quite similar to the Ganado, but on a lighter background.

Navajo pictorial weaving has been a mirror of the Navajo experience, with the first documented mention of pictorial weaving in 1840. When the railroad reached Gallup, New Mexico, in 1882, its arrival was reflected in the appearance of a train in a weaving. American Flags, railroad cars and elements such as cattle, chickens, horses, eagles and 5-pointed stars soon appeared. Some of the most intriguing pictorials represent traditional elements of Navajo culture and spiritual life. In the 1920s and 1930s the powerful medicine man, Hosteen Klah, wove ceremonial rugs that were copies (purposefully not exact copies) of sandpaintings that were created and destroyed in the same day. Soon it was common to find Yeis (Navajo Holy People) and Yei bi chei dancers portrayed on weavings. Isabel John, the most famous of the pictorial weavers, passed away when the automobile in which she was riding was hit by an intoxicated driver in December 2004. For more information on this wonderful weaver, click here. We have three of her weavings on our last Pictorial page.

Sometimes known as the "Cadillac" of Navajo rugs, the Two Grey Hills is a bordered rug and utilizes natural wool tones of white, brown and black. No commercial or vegetal dyes are used except for the black color.

One of the characteristics of a fine rug is the light weight accounted for by extremely careful carding and spinning resulting in a high thread count. A weft (the threads running across and woven into the warp threads that hold the piece on the loom) count of 50 per inch is a high quality rug. A count of 80 or more qualifies a rug as a tapestry. Some outstanding Two Grey Hills tapestries have counts of 120 or more.