Maud Van Cortlandt Oakes (1903–1990) was an
ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
, artist and writer who published her research into the cultures of indigenous tribes in the Americas, including the
Navajo of the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
and the
Mam of
Guatemala. She is best known for her books recording these tribes' ceremonies, art and stories.
Early life
Oakes was born May 25, 1903, in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, younger daughter and last of three children, to Mary Beekman (née Taylor) and Walter Oakes (1864–1911), whose father was
Thomas Fletcher Oakes
Thomas Fletcher Oakes (July 15, 1843 – March 14, 1919) was president of Northern Pacific Railway from 1888 to 1893.
Biography
Thomas Fletcher Oakes was born in Boston on July 15, 1843. He entered railway service June 1, 1863; to April, 1879, ...
, the president of
Northern Pacific Railway from 1888 to 1893. Walter was the co-founder of the
Alaska Steamship Company
The Alaska Steamship Company was formed on August 3, 1894. While it originally set out to ship passengers and fishing products, the Alaska Steamship Company began shipping mining equipment, dog sleds, and cattle at the outbreak of the Klondike G ...
and president of the Roslyn Fuel Company.
As she grew up in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, her family's prosperity allowed Oakes to travel. She developed an interest in the culture of Native Americans while visiting Washington State and vacationing on
Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County.
...
in
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
. It was that trip that inspired her to pursue her passion for ethnology, focusing on indigenous tribes of the Americas.
Her research included renderings of tribal art and, according to a gallery's biography, "Little is known about her art education, though it can be surmised that this came with her grade school education."
American southwest
In the 1940s, Oakes received a grant from the Old Dominion Foundation (now the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...
) to study the rituals of the
Dine (Navajo) people, which resulted in her first book, ''Where the Two Came to Their Father, A Navaho War Ceremonial.'' In that book, she described the Navajo creation story as well as a ceremony by Navajo singer
Jeff King that she witnessed while living on the reservation in 1942–1943.
"The War Ceremonial was revived by 20th century Navajo to sendoff young Navajo leaving the reservation to serve in the US military during WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The ceremonial was intended to protect the soul of the warrior who would be so far from his people. Several hundred Navajo served in the war, including approximately 400 Code Talkers
A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the world wars who used their k ...
".
Oakes also took that opportunity to replicate the sand paintings used during the ceremony.
A series of 18
pochoir
Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...
stencil prints derived from the original
sandpainting
Sandpainting is the art of pouring coloured sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed or unfixed sand painting. Unfixed sand paintings have a long es ...
s were published in 1943.
Guatemala
On a similar trip, from late 1945 to early 1947, Oakes lived for 17 months in the village of
Todos Santos in a remote part of the highlands of Guatemala as the only outsider. She documented the art and spiritual practices of the Mam tribe and their
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
cultural roots. One of her resulting books, ''The two crosses of Todos Santos,'' Oakes described a religious ritual that had survived from
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
times. In another book, ''Beyond the Windy Place,'' Oakes talked about her life in the village.
Her papers were published by Princeton University in the 1940s and '50s and republished as part of a collection in the 1990s.
Later years
Oakes became a student of Carl Jung and made his philosophy the subject of her final book, ''The Stone Speaks'', which reflected her personal meditations on a large carved stone located in the garden of
Bollingen Tower
The Bollingen Tower is a structure built by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. In appearance, it is a small castle with four towers. It is located in the village of Bollingen on the shore of the ''Obersee'' (upper lake) basin of Lake Zürich.
Hist ...
, the name given to Jung's home on
Lake Zürich
__NOTOC__
Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used ...
in
Switzerland.
Oakes was named an honorary member of the
C. G. Jung Institute in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, and became a close friend of actor and researcher
Natacha Rambova
Natacha Rambova (born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy; January 19, 1897 – June 5, 1966) was an American film costume designer, set designer, and occasional actress who was active in Hollywood in the 1920s. In her later life, she abandoned design ...
when she was studying Egyptian artifacts, and at whose apartment Oakes attended classes "on symbolism, mythology, and comparative religion."
Oakes died in 1990 at her home at
Carmel, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...
, at the age of 87, of
Alzheimer's disease. She was survived by a niece and a nephew.
Selected works
* Oakes, Maud. ''The two crosses of Todos Santos: Survivals of Mayan religious ritual''. 1969
* Oakes, Maud. ''Stone Speaks'': ''The Memoir of a Personal Transformation,'' Chiron Publishers, 1987
* Henderson, Joseph Lewis, and Maud Oakes. ''The wisdom of the serpent: The myths of death, rebirth, and resurrection''. Vol. 38. Princeton University Press, 1990.
* King, Jeff, Maud Oakes, and Joseph Campbell. ''Where the two came to their father: a Navaho war ceremonial given by Jeff King''. Princeton University Press, 1991. (With commentary by
Joseph Campbell)
* Adams, John, Mark Whitney, Michael Whitney, Suzanne Wagner, Jerome Hill, Maud Oakes, John Freeman, and Joan Bakewell. ''Matter of Heart''. New York, NY: Kino International, 2001.
* Oakes, Maud. ''Beyond The Windy Place -- Life In The Guatemalan Highlands''. Read Books Ltd, 2016.
References
External links
Maud Oakes's Obituaryin the New York Times, June 13, 1990
Maud Oakess page at The Open Library
Maud Oakesinterview at the C.G. Jung Institute in Los Angeles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Maud
1903 births
1990 deaths
American ethnologists
Women ethnologists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century American scientists
20th-century American women artists
American illustrators
American women anthropologists
Navajo culture
Navajo history
Guatemalan culture