Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo

In the 1870s the French artist Jules Tavernier travelled to California, where he painted an expansive canvas depicting a ceremonial dance of the Indigenous Pomo community of Elem. Recently rediscovered, Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California (1878) forms the centrepiece of this display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (16 August–28 November). It is shown alongside other works by Tavernier, narrating the history of his travels through the US, as well as a group of Pomo baskets and regalia dating from the 19th century to the present day. Find out more from the Met’s website.

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Gathering of the Clans (Lakota Encampment) (c. 1876), Jules Tavernier. Oakland Museum of California

Red Cloud’s Camp, Nebraska (c. 1874), Jules Tavernier. Collection of Nancy and David Ferreira

Fully feathered three-rod coiled basket (c. 1900), Ethel Jamison Bogus. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Miniature three-rod coiled basket (c. 2010), Clint McKay. Courtesy of the artist

Dance in a Subterranean Round- house at Clear Lake, California (1878), Jules Tavernier. Photo: Bruce Schwarz; © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York