MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN INDIAN ART FROM THE...

MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN INDIAN ART FROM THE EUGENE AND CLARE THAW COLLECTION text by Gilbert T. Vincent, photographs by John Bigelow Taylor (Abrams/ New York State Historical Assn.: $19.95; 96 pp., paperback original). Art dealers Eugene and Clare Thaw amassed an extraordinary collection of artwork from various Native American cultures, which they recently donated to the Fenimore House Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. The reader is struck by both the level of artistry and the diversity of these objects, which range from gracefully incised carvings (Tlingat) to the understated elegance of birchbark baskets (Montagnais) and the dramatic simplicity of Southwestern pottery (Zuni).