The cover of Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v.79, no. 1 (Summer, 2021)
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BULLETIN | VOLUME 79 | NUMBER 1

Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo

Kornhauser, Elizabeth and Shannon Vittoria, with a preface by Robert Joseph Geary
2021
48 pages
53 illustrations
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Investigating the career of the French-born American artist Jules Tavernier (1844–1889), this issue of the Bulletin recounts the artist’s travels through the American West and examines his portrayals of some of the Indigenous communities he encountered. The story focuses on Tavernier’s masterwork, Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California (1878), which depicts a ceremonial dance—known as mfom Xe, or “people dance”—performed by the Pomo community of Elem at Clear Lake, in Northern California.

Robert Joseph Geary, an Elem Pomo cultural leader, eloquently describes his first reactions upon seeing Tavernier’s depiction of his ancestors and the significance of the mfom Xe ceremony. Elizabeth Kornhauser and Shannon Vittoria provide additional historical context for the painting and show how it recognizes the rich vitality of Elem Pomo culture while also exposing the threat posed to the community by White settlers.

This Bulletin juxtaposes paintings, prints, watercolors, and photographs by Tavernier and other artists with examples of historic and contemporary Pomo basketry and regalia to celebrate the resiliency of the Pomo peoples and highlight their continued cultural presence.

Indian Sun Dance–Young Bucks Proving Their Endurance by Self-Torture ("Harper's Weekly," Vol. XIX, pp. 8-9), Jules Tavernier  American, born France, Wood engraving
Multiple artists/makers
January 2, 1875
Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California, Jules Tavernier  American, born France, Oil on canvas, American
Jules Tavernier
1878
Diagonally twined carrying basket, Willow shoot foundation, sedge root warp, redbud shoot weft, coiled-on oak rim rod and split wild grape vine rim wrap, Pomo, Native American
Pomo, Native American
ca. 1900
Indian Sweat House, Mendocino County, California, Carleton E. Watkins  American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Carleton E. Watkins
1863
Fully feathered three-rod coiled plate-form basket, Pomo artist (Lake County, California), Willow shoot foundation, sedge root weft, feathers (red-winged blackbird, western meadowlark, mallard, California valley quail topknots), clamshell disk beads, abalone pendants, and cotton string, Pomo (Lake County, California)
Pomo artist
ca. 1905
The Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite, Carleton E. Watkins  American, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Carleton E. Watkins
1861
Plain-twined bowl, Willow shoot foundation, sedge root weft, and redbud shoot weft, Pomo artist (Northern California)
Pomo artist (Northern California)
ca. 1915
One-rod coiled boat basket, Mary Knight Benson  Yokayo Pomo (Mendocino County, California), Willow shoot foundation, sedge root weft, and dyed bulrush root weft, Yokayo Pomo
Mary Knight Benson
ca. 1905

View Citations

Kornhauser, Elizabeth Mankin, and Shannon Vittoria. 2021. Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.